TRIRIGA Insights

A year of natural disasters

So far, 2010 headline stories have been marked by a series of natural disasters of almost unprecedented scale. Whether we examine the earthquakes of Haiti and Chile or the winter storms that have battered the Northeastern United States, structural damage to facilities, electrical grid failures and transportation disruptions limit the continuity of business operations and disaster recovery efforts within these affected areas. (see figure 1.)

Figure 1: Storm causes havoc in the Northeast – 2/27/2010

Suspension of operations at mission critical facilities such as headquarters, data centers, call centers, manufacturing sites and laboratories can rapidly translate into millions of dollars of lost productivity and customer disaffection.

Lack of an integrated facilities database can hamper disaster recovery

To minimize the impact of natural disasters on mission critical facilities, real estate and facilities departments must deliver vital insights required to formulate an overall business continuity plan and specific disaster recovery scenarios. From these plans, real estate and facilities departments must be prepared to execute these plans immediately with other members of the recovery team including IT, human resources, risk management, operations management and communications.

Unfortunately, many organizations lack the unified and integrated facilities database and process support that are crucial in the planning and execution of a comprehensive facilities disaster recovery plan.

Make sure your company is prepared

While the February 27th 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile was measured to be 500 times stronger than that of Haiti’s, Chile’s preparedness and rapid response translated into less loss of life and critical infrastructure.

Use of an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) within your business continuity planning can similarly prepare your organization to respond immediately and minimize disastrous consequences. At a high–level, IWMS identifies mission critical facilities and serves as the centralized repository of essential facility information, processes and procedures for an effective emergency response.

To discover how IWMS delivers the capabilities to support your organization’s disaster recovery plans, read Integrated Workplace Management System – A critical tool in business continuity and disaster recovery management, a whitepaper authored by leading industry analyst Michael Bell.