Our client is a UK property and project finance investment company headquartered in central London.
After years of unplanned and undocumented expansion of their IT infrastructure, and a business increasingly reliant on automation to collect rent, pay suppliers and process payroll, the client decided a comprehensive review of business continuity planning was required.
The Challenge
Our client’s IT infrastructure had expanded over a number of years and had not been properly documented or managed. Reliance on ICT had increased and the client was concerned that critical business function would be lost in the event of a disaster.
The client wanted to carry out the process using internal resources, but using ITD UK for guidance and mentoring.
Our Approach
• Working closely with our client, we first agreed their most likely disaster scenarios. To achieve this we interviewed key staff members to form a definitive overview of the automated and manual processes in use, the status of existing IT systems and the number of staff and their responsibilities.
• In consultation with the client’s departmental heads, we identified the minimum business requirements for each disaster scenario and developed a detailed document of the recovery requirements.
• Using this information, we determined and documented an appropriate set of IT plans and procedures to be adopted in the event of a disaster. We also documented the procedure for returning the business to normal after the invocation of the business continuity plan, as well as setting out the procedure that the client would use for invoking, updating and testing the plan.
• We carried out tests and rehearsals of the plan and all procedures to ensure they were robust, resilient and suited to the client's initial brief.
The Results
The client's business continuity and disaster recovery plans and procedures were updated and made appropriate to their revised circumstances. The plans were designed so that they could be maintained, invoked and tested by the client without recourse to external resources.
"With ITD's guidance and help, we were able to formulate a plan that gave us peace of mind and control over our IT function. We can now make confident commitments of service to our own clients."