Business Continuity Plan Stems the Flood
June 2007
June 25 will go down in South Yorkshire’s history as the wettest day on record and in the history of Close Credit Management as the day that demonstrated the need and importance of a well written and executed business continuity plan.
As the Sheffield region saw its worst rainfalls in recorded history, the lower Don Valley and numerous businesses, including Close Credit Management (CCM), bore the brunt of rising water levels as the River Don burst its banks at approximately 1.15pm.
By 6pm Brightside Lane, including the ground floor of CCM’s headquarters was under 2 metres of water. By this time however CCM had everything well under control thanks to their business continuity procedures and recovery plans.
“Business Continuity is a vital element of our operating fabric and is constantly under review” said Martin Smith, Close Credit's Group Operations Director. Like any key strategy it has to evolve with the business but the secret is to keep it simple and focused. It is one plan that you pray you never have to execute in anger, but for us June 25th was that day. I cannot praise too highly our wonderful employees and key business partners who have turned a disaster into a triumph literally overnight.”
CCM's Business Continuity Plan demands firstly the protection and safety of its employees, then the ability to restore infrastructure and operating capability to a strict time frame.
“Our recovery was achieved, not by luck, but by a robust plan executed by very committed people.” said Nick Shepherd, CCM’s Financial Director. ”Despite the fact that we had a river running through our ground floor until the early hours of Tuesday we were fully functional by this morning (Thursday 28th). In all that’s just 30 working hours of downtime, well within our target for this level of event”.
As well as managing to turn the operational issues around so quickly, CCM’s procedures have ensured that all clients and employees were kept fully appraised throughout, with many managerial staff having the ability to work remotely whilst the building was being cleared.