April marks the first full month of spring. It is also the start of the hurricane and wildfire seasons: as Florida and southern California respectively slowly recover from theirs. And tornadoes can now happen most anywhere and at anytime.
Contact centers are at the hub of business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) efforts.
This April is also the fifth anniversary of the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic, with experts looking for signs of the next potentially deadly outbreak. Already there has been the return of measles in parts of the U.S. and Canada.
At the same time, other disasters of all types and sizes, can and do happen. Sometimes with little or no notice.
Contact centers are at the hub of business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) efforts. They must maintain timely customer service/support, especially to those customers who have been impacted both directly and indirectly by these “events.” And at the same time protect their employees and operations – in that order – from harm.
What matters, then, is how you plan for, mitigate, respond, and recover from disasters. Your life, that of your loved ones, and others’ lives and loved ones, depend on your decisions. Not to mention your livelihood: and theirs.
But are contact centers (like yours) well-prepared for the next disaster? And if not, what steps should they take now before it happens?
We posed these questions to three of our Advisory Board members and here are their answers.
DR. DEBRA BENTSON
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led an untold number of us to grab our gear, leave our company offices, and head home. It was an instructive exercise on remote work, the speed with which we could pack a box, and the need for business continuity planning (BCP).
Many of us are wondering how to prevent, plan for, and minimize the impact of the next disaster: regardless of the origin. Bad things happen that put people, things, and our ability to conduct business at risk. The bad things range from the possible to the unimaginable.
There are some key components to building a BCP that will operate in a never-ending cycle:
- Prepare by considering:
- What bad things are not just likely, but possible?
- How can we prevent them?
- Specifically, who does what when bad things happen?
- How and what will you communicate so everyone knows what to do?
- How, and at what cadence, will plans be reviewed and tested?
- Execute the BCP by:
- Working the plan until you can return to business as usual.
- Communicating clearly and regularly to everyone.
- Documenting what was done for later review.
- Conduct an after-action assessment to determine success and failure points in the plan to refine the plan for the next time. Update the plan based on the results.
A colleague told me years ago that his employer had bought a large generator to provide their office with backup power. A power outage happened, but the generator did not start. They were left in the dark and unable to conduct business.
When they checked the generator, they discovered the fuel tank was empty. Why? Someone had sold the generator fuel to save money.
Readiness has a cost, and the silence can be deafening when you’re left in the dark.
SANGEETA BHATNAGAR
SB Global
Human Capital Solutions
GTACC Chair
There are a couple of angles to look at this from. Some centers learned valuable lessons from COVID and various natural disasters that displaced workers and which impacted processes and overall customer experience (CX).
“Make sure that the backup locations' staff are well-trained to handle a natural disaster...” —Sangeeta Bhatnagar
Here are several suggestions to support your Business Continuity strategy:
- Have agents in multiple parts of the country/world. In case there is an environmental issue, tech issue, or natural disaster that impacts either onsite or remote workers, you have other locations that can step up and support business continuity. But ensure that you are not concentrated in only one region.
- Find a good BPO partner. By having a solid business process outsourcer (BPO) partner that serves as an extension of your brand, you can be in different time zones, and in different parts of the world, to seamlessly service your customers. The customer will not be negatively impacted by whatever caused the service disruption.
- Keep more than one internet provider. In case the internet goes down nationwide for your remote agents or onsite staff, you would have your remote agents who have a different provider be available to help with service volume.
- Have well-trained backup staff. Make sure that the backup locations’ staff are well-trained to handle a natural disaster or unexpected overflow. It is important to test out your team and strategy before you actually need it.
- Ensure excellent security and CX. Make sure that the backup location(s) does not compromise the security/privacy of your customers or have any negative impact on them.
- Providing solid links. Ensure content and links to processes on your shared sites are all current and updated. Someone, at any location, should be able to step in by looking at the shared content and get current knowledge.
- Have current contact info. Ensure all contact information is correct and current. Since people move from roles and the company, it is important that your Business Continuity group is in communication with the various teams to keep all information relevant and current. Having old data with non-existent contacts does not help anyone during a time of disaster recovery.
LAURA SIKORSKI
Many times, I am asked what contact center operational and technological procedures should be in place in case of an emergency. Emergency failures can be (and to):
- Infrastructure: data center environment, connectivity, voice (cloud), data systems, networks, servers.
- Electrical power: to the location(s) and employees.
- Fire: in your building and your city/local areas.
- Natural disasters: water-related (flood, snow, mudslides, hurricanes, tornados, etc.), wildfires, earthquakes.
- Office building environment: loss of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).
Some of these can be responded to and planned for in advance. Examples include backup generators and local uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs), data center backup storage for critical system data, and rerouting contacts to other contact centers and remote agents.
But quite honestly, my answer is always based on answers to the following questions:
- How long can your company stay in business without receiving and/or responding to customer interactions?
- Where are your contact centers and other business user groups located?
- What is the monetary impact of any emergency lasting an hour, a day, a week, or a month?
- Do you have access to your CRM software? If not, what type of customer interactions can you handle?
- Can you remain competitive in a “down” situation?
- What departments must remain operational during an emergency for the contact center to conduct business?
- How will staff be affected – remote and on-site workers—and what types of emergency notification methods will be used for updates? Also, will hotel accommodations, expense accounts, and transportation be available to a central site?
While these are basic business questions, the answers will determine how much money your company should spend on disaster recovery/business continuity planning, including the possibility of a “hot site” or a standby BPO to manage minimal or all customer interactions.
“When disasters happen, post-failure debriefs are necessary...” —Laura Sikorski
A Business Continuity department is recommended. Their charter should be to develop and formalize, test, update, and if (and when) necessary, execute operations and technology recovery plans for all user groups by location.
The testing element is critical. No matter what crisis management strategies and contingency plans you put into place, they are only good if they have been tested, retested, and evaluated again.
The best plan is useless if no one is responsible for keeping changes in technology, equipment, and departmental operation requirements up to date. It is extremely important that all employees and departments know what is required of them during any type of emergency. Their lives, as well as their company, depend on it.
When disasters happen, post-failure debriefs are necessary with all department heads to review what went well and what areas need improvement. That way the company is better prepared for the inevitable next time.
My hope is that all contact centers have a business continuity plan. And if not, they must initiate one as soon as possible.