Business Continuity Planning (BCP) Tips & Tricks in Coping with Pandemic Alert

Transcription

1 Business Continuity Planning (BCP) Tips & Tricks in Coping with Pandemic Alert Investment Counsel Association of Canada June 11, 2009 MFC Global Investment Management

2 BCP at Manulife s organization is siloed ; responsible only for Investment Division with governance and policy set by global team have a team of four + co-op responsible for business continuity and disaster recovery (Toronto & Boston) manage 52 Business Unit Continuity Plans in 14 countries and recovery of 100+ applications in multiple data centres focus on dependency-based planning only; technology, people, primary sites don t do scenario-based planning mandated to use corporate tool to capture recovery plans and data (LDRPS 10) testing is a huge part our BCP/DR program recovery strategies vary widely by business unit; use combination of low tech/low cost and high tech/high cost tools, techniques, tests, templates and documents 2

3 Low tech/low cost BCP developed standard set of Office templates for business impact assessments (BIA), business unit continuity plans (BUCPs) including contact templates for vendors, employees, partners, suppliers and external partners conduct table top tests for all BUCPs annually; facilitated meeting with BU business leaders walking them through two scenarios testing two dependencies deliver customized presentations to business units on topics as diverse as being prepared at home, what past disasters have taught us, influenza 101 printed brochures, cards & booklets with information needed at time of disaster; each has specific audience designated conference call numbers and meeting rooms to use at time of disaster to ensure strong communications share tools and techniques with other divisional teams 3

4 High tech/high cost BCP 4 have alternative trading floors for multiple Toronto and Boston trading floors/teams set up and on standby 7/24; tested frequently and formally commissioned custom tools to manage personalization of workstations at recovery (call forwarding, replication, etc.) leverage LDRPS 10 to track and input all information about continuity and recovery thousands of pieces of data across division, data centres, and company setting up automatic tool for calling and/or ing employees at time of disaster with customized messages and direct connection to HR systems to ensure all contact information is current built and maintain evidence repository (tests, etc.) cross-train/ swap staff between Boston and Toronto to ensure effective management and continuity

5 Right-sizing effort strategy for each office differs there is no one solution UK recovers at homes of key employees using laptops kept there for recovery purposes only US and Canada recover at third-party provider (same provider used on both sides of border for cost savings) Japan recovers at insurance offices located in suburbs recovery strategies selected influenced by recovery time objectives (RTOs), maximum allowable downtime (MAD), business needs, risks involved, budget available, business appetite for recovery, etc. 5

6 Pandemic Preparedness at Manulife key aspects of pandemic preparedness already in place headcounts (production vs. minimum required) in BIAs task list for BU if 50% of staff cannot report along with strategies for coping with loss of reporting staff in all BUCPs list of key vendors, partners, suppliers with multiple contacts listed for all BUCPs all business functions are risk rated and have RTOs/ MADs stated in BIAs dependency on people tested for all BUCPs with table tops (pandemic influenza in 07; food poisoning in 08) division pandemic plan set and updated with triggers, plans and cross-company resources listed all senior staff exposed to influenza training and awareness 6

7 Triggers Corporate Plan Phases Envisioned Triggers Phases Description CDC phase WHO phase Business Unit Absenteeism Local Public Health Phase 0: Heightened Planning/ Readiness Activities no office closures normal to increased STD/LTD, benefits and claims normal normal Phase 1: Limited Influenza Exposure no office closures limited (typical) winter mortality increase normal (high range) STD/LTD, benefits and other claims activity normal (low range) sales voluntary travel restrictions stock/bond markets in normal range limited in duration (first four to six weeks) higher than normal but within operational threshold* heightened awareness sporadic reports of local cases Phase 2: Major Epidemic some office closures Toronto Head Office impacted elevated mortality 25% elevated STD/LTD, benefits and claims activity 30-50% reduction in sales some voluntary and some mandatory regional travel restrictions stock/bond markets fall 10-20% limited/extended duration (two to three months) at operational threshold* flu is in city schools and public gathering places closed 7 Phase 3: Catastrophic Epidemic major office closures all divisional offices impacted significant mortality increase 100% increase in STD/LTD, benefit & claims activity % reduction in sales mandatory world-wide travel restrictions stock/bond markets fall 20-30% extended duration (three to six months) 6 6 beyond operational threshold* flu is in city schools, public gatherings and offices closed health infrastructure overwhelmed

8 Swine/H1N1 influenza in 2009 Division out-of-cycle review of BIAs and BUCPs (pre-pandemic checklist completed by each business unit) creation of daily absenteeism tracking tool (Excel) creation of tracking tool for key vendors (IT suppliers & ASPs, custodians, data suppliers) for trends and delivery daily update of divisional plan; daily now weekly communications to divisional staff Corporate daily now weekly meetings of key senior management including communications, crisis management, health services, etc. communications via intranet; new pandemic hotline set up cross divisional reporting on preparedness 8

9 Predictions completely believe that WHO will move to level 6 once they redefine level 6 or break it into different levels (expect it soon) most companies will remained in heightened state of readiness for the summer and fall; have gift of three months to get all preparations in place swine/h1n1 influenza will be back in the fall in NA; stronger but hopefully not mutated (drift vs. shift) swine/h1n1 influenza shot will be available by the end of 2009; uncertain as to what its efficacy will be 9

10 Questions 10