ACL’s BCP is an all-inclusive management strategy and process that addresses threats by any exigency on the business and consequently its operations. This BCP seeks to provide a framework to safeguard the interest of all stakeholders. BCP Management
Management Structure The BCP is managed by specific departments of ACL Mobile Ltd and overseen by BCP group comprising of Chief Business Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Chief Finance Officer and Head of Human Resource. The prime objective of these departments is to manage, update and test disaster recovery plans. In the event of a serious incident, these departments shall take control of their respective area of operations and execute the recovery plan.
Responsibilities of the Departments
- Every department has their specific BCP Plan and the onus of following these is on the department concerned.
- Departments must be fully represented, and everyone should be aware of their responsibility. The BCP must be tested and reviewed regularly. Records of such reviews must be maintained.
- Departments is responsible for making initial decisions on enacting upon the BCP. However, this is only in association with operational representatives.
- In line with the contact strategy, the management must be apprised of the situation at hand.
- Every individual should carry out their roles and the department must ensure the smooth functioning to the best of its capacity.
- Departments will strive to revive the business, as early and efficiently as possible.
Responsibilities of the HR / Facilities
- The HR department is in command of all communications addressed to ACL employees.
- Updated contact information of ACL employees must be maintained by the HR. Any change in coordinates must be updated in the human resource database.
- The department will maintain HR & Facilities Disaster Recovery Plans, as also test for accuracy and efficacy. Remedial steps will be carried out, if required.
- The department will advise other departments/teams with respect to property and access issues.
- In case of a serious incident, the HR will ensure that contingency sites are fully functional when required.
- Safety and re-occupation of a site post a major incident must be reviewed and verified by the HR.
- Concerns pertaining to disaster recovery plans must be communicated to the concerned department in a timely manner.
Responsibilities of the PR / Marketing
- All external communications will be created, managed, and updated by the PR/Marketing team. Ongoing measures and reasons behind putting a BCP in place will also be communicated by the department, as and when required.
- The department must make use of the suitable and established media, that is company website, the dedicated phone line, e-mail, messaging etc. to communicate the updates.
Training and Awareness
- If the BCP is invoked, all ACL employees will necessarily undergo training and awareness sessions. This will help them establish their roles and responsibilities during these trying times.
- Each department will take ownership of trainings/awareness sessions, relevant to its core operational area.
- In case of movement of resources across departments or influx of new resources, every such newcomer must be acclimatized of his/her role and responsibility in case the BCP is executed.
BCP Data and Documentation Data with respect to business continuity strategy and relevant documentation is updated and maintained in the following locations:
- The HR database contains information about ACL employees and their coordinates. This includes both business and personal numbers.
- ACL employees are reminded periodically to update their coordinates.
Business Continuity Strategy The BCP is collated, keeping in mind its usefulness with regards to any kind of exigency. Some emergency scenarios that will require a BCP in place are listed below:
Restrictions on people movement In an event where government guidelines and advisory prohibit people from undertaking avoidable travel, the business continuity strategy will be rolled into action.
Accidents Potential threats or its aftermath such as bombing, fire, flood or other natural disasters may make it difficult for staff to work within ACL premises. This will demand measures listed in the BCP to be executed.
Important notes Prior to invoking and executing a BCP, the following should be noted:
- Risk assessment must be carried out by departments that anticipate an impact on business.
- All departments will assess the various requirements of the teams and roll into action the respective disaster recovery plans.
- IT, Product and HR departments may be given priority meanwhile the PR-Marketing departments will invoke the necessary communication – both internal and external or as the case may require.
- All responses to the business strategy should be weighed and reviewed periodically. These should be modified/updated as deemed appropriate.
- In the aftermath of the emergency, the entire BCP and the process should be reviewed again.
BCP: Post-incident meeting Post initial communications, an assessment and follow-up plan are mandatory. This follow-up will be held to gauge the anticipated timeline of the exigency. Suitable strategies will thereafter be drawn to identify further course of action which includes appropriate communication to various teams and departments within ACL as also third parties.
Ongoing assessment
- Any exigency that poses a business impact must be assessed continually. If physical meetings are not possible, the management and departments will ensure virtual meetings to assess the gravity and timeline of the exigency, setting strategies in action to attend to business-critical requirements.
- The department must keep the management informed about developments, exigency and BCP.
- The PR/Marketing department will update the media and maintain/manage all external communications.
- All stakeholders must be updated about the situation, recovery plans and progress.
Standing down the Business Continuity Plan Once the crisis ends, the BCP may be rolled back. Prior to standing it down, the following should be put together:
- Situation document This contains all decisions and actionable taken during the exigency as well as its review.
- Efficacy of the BCP The BCP must be reviewed regularly and appropriate improvements should be suggested and recorded.
Disaster Recovery Plans
In case of global health crisis and absence of workforce at ACL’s physical sites
ACL is adequately prepared to handle a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. ACL’s technology and infrastructure accommodates a remote-working set-up, reducing the dependency on physical office locales. This has been tried and successfully implemented across our office locations.
For further questions, please inquire via [email protected]