Business continuity

Project

Liverpool Direct Limited gains BS25999 accreditation for business continuity

Background

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Liverpool Direct Limited provides ICT, Contact Centre and other shared services to Liverpool City Council and many other public and private sector organisation.

Brief

In 2007, Liverpool Direct Limited decided to embark on a business continuity management (BCM) programme and, as a result, gained BS25999 accreditation for business continuity.

Results

Liverpool Direct Limited gains BS25999 accreditation for business continuity.

Liverpool Direct Limited provides ICT, Contact Centre and other shared services to Liverpool City Council and many other public and private sector organisations, including highly visible and sensitive Government authorised services. Many demand high levels of security and integrity, often dealing with highly personal, sensitive and time-critical information. 

Recognising this, in 2007, Liverpool Direct Limited decided to embark on a business continuity management (BCM) programme to ensure its services could never suffer unacceptable disruption from any cause. In addition to everyday risks, the scenarios covered include the real and potentially catastrophic impacts arising from ‘standard’ insurable hazards such as fire and flood, and also from less obvious 21st century threats such as information loss or corruption, critical utility failure and terrorism.

Instead of simply providing a basic BCM capability, Liverpool Direct Limited decided to go the extra mile, ensuring its staff, stakeholders and customers had reliable protection against the effects of unplanned disruption. 

They applied for accreditation against the prestigious BS25999:2007 Standard for Business Continuity. This, as any BC professional will tell you, is no pushover; a strict audit is carried out against industry best practice and in true fashion, BSI’s auditors ensured no stone was left unturned. 

David McElhinney, Liverpool Direct Limited’s, CEO, said: “We wanted to be sure we had a watertight capability from the outset and we knew we had the discipline and wherewithal to achieve accreditation.” 

Clearly, no-one had told David that this was a big ask, that few organisations attempt accreditation and almost none are awarded a certificate at the first attempt.  Liverpool Direct Limited received its formal accreditation in March 2010 – a remarkable achievement.

If you ask most business people about BCM in their organisation, most will tell you if they have a plan; some may be familiar with it and a minority will be aware of how the plan came about and how it was formed. Accreditation demands more; it requires demonstrable and long-term embedding of BCM within the organisation’s culture. 

It involves management understanding the organisation’s position in the value chain and how the chain is able to accommodate disruption; it involves developing strategies to deal with diverse scenarios that threaten continuity and plans that ensure these strategies can be enacted appropriately. Critically, BS25999 demands verification through testing and continual improvement of continuity capability through challenge and review.  It offers exceptional levels of certainty and hence value to stakeholders, suppliers and employees alike.

From the outset, Liverpool Direct Limited’s Dawn Hibbert and Colette Kavanagh picked up the BCM initiative and ran with it with it. 

Dawn Hibbert, said: “When we started along this path we had some idea of the volume or depth of work involved.  Looking back now, we can see we have touched every aspect of the company’s operations, in many cases revealing things we didn’t know about ourselves – a real eye-opener.”  She continued “Early on in the process, we realised we needed specialist help and we contacted INONI, a BCM consultancy and software provider to deliver the technical aspect.”  

Colette Kavanagh, added: “INONI’s consultants quickly gained an understanding of the business and provided access to the INONI BCM Pro software tool.  It’s been an invaluable experience and INONI provides responsive and expert support in all areas whenever we need it, covering both ICT and business.”


John Robinson, MD for INONI Limited, said: “Working with Liverpool Direct Limited has been a good experience.  Management and staff are positive and supportive of the BCM initiative, knowledgeable and committed in equal measure.  The real beneficiaries are Liverpool Direct Limited’s customers who can rest in the knowledge that the services they rely on will always be there.” 

He continued: “To date we have provided a managed service, operating the INONI BCM Pro software so it provides Liverpool Direct Limited with all of the deliverables and controls we need to comply with BS25999.  We are now preparing to hand over aspects to Liverpool Direct Limited’s BC Management Team, providing autonomy and reducing the maintenance overhead.  We envisage they will take full control over the system in due course.

“Liverpool Direct Limited is now in a demonstrably strong position.”

 

Testimonial

John Robinson, MD for INONI Limited, said: “Working with Liverpool Direct Limited has been a good experience.  Management and staff are positive and supportive of the BCM initiative, knowledgeable and committed in equal measure.  The real beneficiaries are Liverpool Direct Limited’s customers who can rest in the knowledge that the services they rely on will always be there.” 

He continued: “To date we have provided a managed service, operating the INONI BCM Pro software so it provides Liverpool Direct Limited with all of the deliverables and controls we need to comply with BS25999.  We are now preparing to hand over aspects to Liverpool Direct Limited’s BC Management Team, providing autonomy and reducing the maintenance overhead.  We envisage they will take full control over the system in due course.

“Liverpool Direct Limited is now in a demonstrably strong position.”

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