Vodafone Business Continuity - Tolerable Time of Disruption, Management System and Entity Culture - Term Paper Example

Table of contents 1.0 Analysis of operating environment and stakeholder analysis 1 2.0 Critical activities and an assessment of maximum tolerable period of disruption 2 3.0 Time recovery objectives 3 4.0 Critical dependencies 4 5.0 Strategies for maintaining critical activities/dependencies 6 6.0 Critical dependency monitoring arrangements 8 8 7.0 Plan invocation arrangements 8 8.0 Generic response arrangements for managing disruption 9 9.0 A media strategy for internal and external stakeholders 11 10.0 Plan development, review and training arrangements 12 12.0 Conclusion 14 13.0 References: 14 1.0 Analysis of operating environment and stakeholder analysis Vodafone was started in the year nineteen eighty four. By that time, it was a subsidiary of Racal electronics. By the year nineteen eighty eight, the company offered twenty percent of its capital to the public. Research shows that by the year nineteen ninety one, the Company became independent and its name was changed to Vodafone Group Plc. Vodafone group is a mobile network operator based in England and has its headquarters in Berkshire. (Victtorio, 2009) It is one of the companies in the world that has the largest market turnover with a value of £71.2 billion by November, 2009 estimates. In addition to this, it has over four hundred million proportionate customers throughout the world. It is the third mobile operator in the world after China Mobile and O2Telefonica. The improvements that this company has had in the past can be attributed change in technology and other advancements related to technology. This Company is listed on the London stock exchange market. (Hodgkinson and Burke, 2009) This Company is currently operating in five continents and in specifically thirty one markets. It is a public limited Company whose name emanated from initials from the voice data fone. When the Company was formed, the CEO was Gerald Whent until the year 1996. Christopher Gent then took over until July the year 2003. The current CEO of the Company is Victtorio Colao who took over from Gent. This paper deals with business continuity management in Vodafone Company. (Victtorio, 2009) 2.0 Critical activities and an assessment of maximum tolerable period of disruption Analysis of Vodafone Company shows that it majors in provision of communication services to its diverse customer base. This is mainly through the use of mobile phones. Vodafone has since adopted technologies that have come to improve the provision of services especially in the third world countries. Its subsidiaries in Africa have employed the use of technologies such as the GPRS to effectively improve communication for its customers. The company including Vodafone South Africa has adopted technologies including those that allow its users to send and receive money via their mobile phones in specified outlets, email mobile, etc. Further analysis of Vodafone Company shows that the Company also sells various handsets. It also currently deals with provision of internet such that customers can access their emails or chat through the use of Vodafone handsets. This is where diverse broadband services are sold to customers to enable them easily access internet. (Victtorio, 2009) 3.0 Time recovery objectives Business continuity management highly deals with the impacts of various disruptions on an organisation. The maximum period of disruption is the total time taken to recover from the disruption. This is where damages are repaired, relocation is carried out and replacements are done. In case of disruption of relating to twenty five percent of the people in the organisation, the maximum tolerable period of disruption is one month. If the disruption affects two buildings, then the maximum tolerable period of disruption is two weeks when relocation would be carried out. For loss of information technology, the maximum tolerable period of disruption is two week. If there is disruption of vehicles, the maximum tolerable period of disruption is three weeks. The recovery time objective is the time targeted for the service delivery to resume. The recovery time objective for people would be three weeks, buildings one week, information technology is one week and vehicles, one week. (NFPA, 2007) 4.0 Critical dependencies The critical dependencies in Vodafone Company are mainly people, buildings, vehicles and information technology. People are a very integral asset in Vodafone Company. Vodafone Company has various people that are very important in handling various issues therein. They include the top management team in the Company. The departmental heads work very closely with the employees in Vodafone Company. They make sure that employees implement the previously laid down plans. They are in charge of monitoring the day to day activities in the Company and ensure that customers get quality services and products. (NFPA, 2007) There are employees that are concerned with the day to day running of the business in the Company. They are the actual implementers. Majority of the employees are ICT specialists and they handle customers’ issues on a day to day basis. It is therefore very clear that people are very important to Vodafone Company’s success. The other critical dependency for this Company is its buildings. Research carried out on Vodafone Company shows that it has invested quite a large amount of money on buildings. There is the building that is used as headquarters in Berkshire. This is where all the relevant information about the Company is stored. (Alexander and Sheedy, 2005) This is where all the relevant data concerning employees and customers is stored. Buildings in Vodafone Company are also used to store telecommunication machineries and equipment used fro various jobs. The buildings act as a shelter for employees and management from harsh whether environment such as rain, sunshine and snow etc. (Business continuity management pdf) Vehicles are also part and parcel of the resources in Vodafone Company. They are usually used to transport employees of Vodafone Company to different customers. Vehicles are also used to transport other resources such as materials and equipment to and from the Company. Some of the vehicles are also used for marketing purposes by staffs being taken in different places to market the Company, its services and products. This shows that they are an essential dependency in the smooth running of the business therein. (NFPA, 2007) Vodafone Company also highly relies on information technology in ensuring that customers get required services. In this case the Company highly uses information systems that are computer based. There is high use of various computer softwares in the Company. (Business continuity management pdf) These are used to store, retrieve, process, convert and to transmit information within the Company and between the Company and other stakeholders such as customers and suppliers. Vodafone Company has a computer centre and qualified personnel that take care of information technology issues. Through the use of IT, reports are easily created and data is easily accessed etc(NFPA, 2007) 5.0 Strategies for maintaining critical activities/dependencies It is very important to put in place strategies for maintaining the critical dependencies. This is more so in case disruptions occur on the dependency. The overall goal is to ensure that Vodafone Company continues serving its customers and overly ensuring that the corporate objectives continue to be met. In case of fatalities that affect approximately twenty five percent of the staff, then proper measures have to be put in place. In this case, the operational manager will have to overlook the entire situation. This is by analyzing the departments that have been affected and the number of staffs remaining in the affected departments. In case the remaining staffs cannot effectively handle the relevant duties, then fast recruitment and training should be done. This will help to quickly reinstate the situation of losing twenty five percent of the staffs. In this case, the operations manager also needs to ensure that staffs in the organisation are constantly trained on how other departments carry out activities. This includes implementing job rotation such that they have all employees some exposure in activities of all departments. This also needs to be implemented in the management team. Documentation of how various jobs are carried out should be enhanced. Succession planning and third parties should be incorporated in Vodafone. (Business continuity management pdf) It is also essential to put in place a plan in case the Company misses two buildings. This needs to be handled by the general manager. He should be part of the team in charge of crisis planning in the Company. The plan is to get temporary premises by renting. Other plans include working from the remaining Company premises by deploying machineries and equipment there. Temporary structures can also be used such as tents as the issue gets solved. Home working and remote working can also be done. If the ten percent of the Company’s vehicles are damaged, then the staffs’ personal cars can be temporarily used. (NFPA, 2007) The Company can also temporarily hire other vehicles for use as it makes arrangements to purchase other new ones. This will enable Vodafone Company to continue running its business as usual. Plans can also be made to repair those that are not severely damaged. Natural disasters can result in loss of information technology in Vodafone. First and foremost the IT manager should ensure that hard copies of information are stored as much as soft copies are. He should be in the crisis planning team. (Business continuity management pdf) There is dire need to train information technology specialists in the Company on how to carry out data recovery in case of data loss. The IT manager needs to put in place a lab for data recovery in the Company. The Company can also temporarily hire other computer softwares and also use their personal laptops until the IT is restored. There is need to store back up softwares in the Company safe that can be used in such an occurrence. It would be essential to notify clients of the issue and assure them of proper measures to handle it. The Company can carry out outsourcing, enhance back up systems and use remote access (Alexander and Sheedy, 2005) 6.0 Critical dependency monitoring arrangements It is quite essential to put in place monitoring arrangements for the critical dependencies in Vodafone Company. This is in relation to the dependencies such as people, premises, vehicles and information technology. Monitoring of these critical dependencies should be carried out on a monthly basis. This is where there are analyzed to ascertain various aspects about them. This is usually carried out by the green level or level one. The monitoring should also involve written reports on the dependencies. (Business continuity management pdf) 7.0 Plan invocation arrangements Invocation entails declaration that the business continuity plan in Vodafone Company should be implemented. The invocation of the Vodafone plan can only be carried out by the overall manager or the plan owner. This is the executive board member in Vodafone Company. The Vodafone Company plan should be invoked once a disruption of the critical dependencies has occurred. (Hodgkinson and Burke, 2009) The crisis planning team in Vodafone Company will be responsible for overlooking the entire process. This includes analysis of the disruption on the critical discrepancy such as people, premises, vehicles and information technology. The meeting locations in this case should first and foremost be in the overall manager’s office (the plan owner). This is where all factors relating to the disruptions are analyzed. In this case, the resources, both human and material that pertain to the invocation have to be put in place in the initial stages. (Business continuity management pdf) 8.0 Generic response arrangements for managing disruption The generic response arrangements for managing disruption having a crisis response team within Vodafone Company. This is where the team members are clearly informed of the reason of being included in the team. This means that the purpose of having the crisis planning team has to be very clear to the stakeholders. (NFPA, 2007) Part of the arrangements for managing disruption includes informing the people in the crisis planning team about their roles and responsibilities. This is such that each person knows the task that he or she has to carry out in case of a disruption of the critical discrepancies. This is carried out in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts. This is also carried out such that there is accountability of the team members and high levels of order in handling the situation. (Business continuity management pdf) It is very important to have written and well documented plans for communication, co-ordination, operation and activation. This is such that they can be referred to at the time of disruption. One of the mistakes that some organisations make is to have plans that are not documented. It is important that the documentation clearly illustrates the medium of communication, who is to communicate, the information to be communicated and the stakeholders to be communicated to. This should be carried out concerning the other factors such as co-ordination etc (Alexander and Sheedy, 2005) There is also the need for the procedures and processes relevant to recovery to be documented. This enables relevant authorities and stakeholders in the Company to avoid taking haphazard steps that can make the Company to get into worse problems. It actually acts as a guideline to the crisis planning team during the invocation process. Other generic response arrangements during disruptions entail communicating with the stakeholders. This includes customers, supplier and the media among others. These arrangements are put in place concerning the time when each of the stakeholders should be informed and how the message should be passed across. This also includes the aspects of how much or what information should be released to the stakeholders. (Hodgkinson. and Burke, 2009) 9.0 A media strategy for internal and external stakeholders The internal and external stakeholders of Vodafone Company are equally important. In case of disruption of the critical dependencies such as vehicles, people, premises and information technology, they have to be informed accordingly. The public being the external stakeholders usually get rumours of what may have happened in the institution. This usually results in a situation where there is a lot of distorted information in the public. It would be very essential for the company to communicate as soon as possible to the media stakeholders. This should be carried out officially by the CEO in the Company or the general manager (plan owner). In this case, he needs to give the media information on what exactly happened to the critical dependencies. He needs to inform the media such as television channels and radio stations on the measures that the Company has taken in handling the situation. (NFPA, 2007) This should be done to re-assure the public that the Company’s services to customers will not be disrupted by the occurrence. This will definitely help to reduce the panic in among the public. Internal stakeholders such as employees should be re-assured that the management is well able to handle the situation and that their jobs are safe since the disruption will be effectively handled. This will help to remove panic among the internal stakeholders of Vodafone Company. (Business continuity management pdf) 10.0 Plan development, review and training arrangements Plan development is a very essential part of business continuity management. It is normally highly recommended that the Vodafone business continuity plan be written in a simple language that can easily be understood. It should also be short such that one can quickly go through the whole of it without skipping some of the parts. It is also essential that the assumptions made during the development process be realistic and not exaggerated. The checklists and action plans should be provided for in the development process. It is advisable that job descriptions within the plan clearly illustrate the task ownership among the various stakeholders. During the overall plan development, it is essential to communicate with the stakeholders on issues that will affect them or require their input. It is highly required to use standard templates and Profomas. (Business continuity management pdf) At the initial stages of developing the Vodafone business continuity plan, critical dependencies should be identified. The threats should also be thoroughly evaluated. This should be followed by putting in place relevant strategies such that the impact and probability is reduced and continuity of the business is highly enhanced. There is need to put in place the time spans for the recovery after the disruptions. (Roden, 2004) There needs to be a monthly review of the business continuity plan in Vodafone Company. The reviews should be carried out concerning the objectives of the organisation, assessments of risks, suppliers, organisational structures, responsibilities and the personnel that should handle the disruption. This is considering the fact that changes always occur in institutions. Vodafone staffs should be trained concerning the skills needed to respond to crisis. It also needs to include the plan contents and the role of staffs in implementation of the business continuity plans in Vodafone Company 11.0 Arrangements for embedding the plan into the day to day management systems and organisation culture It is essential for Vodafone management to ensure that the business continuity management plan is embedded in the Company’s day to day management systems. This also includes general embedment in the organisational culture. It should be part and parcel of decisions made and management processes in the Company. This also includes the company’s core values. (Alexander and Sheedy, 2005) It needs to be part and parcel of the team briefing meetings. The employees’ and management team’s appraisals should include business continuity plan aspects. This helps the entire organisation to be geared towards business continuity management. The culture of business continuity in Vodafone Company should be initiated by the top management. This will then be easily incorporated by the rest of the employees in their day to day activities. (Business continuity management pdf) 12.0 Conclusion In conclusion, business continuity management is all about identification of organisational threats, how they affect the operations and ensuring resilience of operations. Vodafone Company’s critical dependencies include people, premises, vehicles and information technology. There are various strategies of maintaining the critical dependencies in case of disruption. For instance, in case of disruption of premises, remote working of home working among other strategies can be implemented. It is essential that the business continuity plan in Vodafone Company be embedded in the day to day activities of the Company. This also includes incorporation in the organisation’s culture. This can be carried out by incorporating business continuity management in the Company’s core values. 13.0 References: Business continuity management pdf; University of central Lancashire Alexander, C. and Sheedy, E. (2005): The Professional Risk Managers; Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Current Theory and Best Practices. PRMIA Publications Hodgkinson, G. and Burke, L. (2009): Intuiton in organisations: Implications for strategic Management; Long Range Planning; 42 (3): 277-297 NFPA 1600 (2007): Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs National Fire Protection Association Roden, K. (2004): Building a business case for disaster recovery planning; Disaster Recovery Journal, Vol.17 No.3, summer 2004, pp.76-77 Victtorio C. (2009): Who we are; retrieved from; www.vodafone.com; accessed on 20th March 2010 Read More