Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery

A Canadian financial institution had about 20% of their Business Recovery Plans (BRP) and testing compliant with bank policy.  The goal was to bring and maintain BRP documentation and test compliance up to acceptable levels and to identify new and existing business units lacking BRP.  Balardo Group helped to train the business units with the creation and maintenance of their BRP.  Additionally the quality of BRP documentation & testing and BRP readiness & awareness within the business units was improved.  As a result of these efforts the client achieved 100% compliance with BRP plans and tests. 

After reviewing the DR capabilities of this large Canadian broker, the regulators asked that it improve its capabilities within a few months.  To address this requirement the firm engaged Balardo Group to act as program manager and provide supplemental project management and technical skills.  With strong executive support from the client, a DR capability that delivered an RPO of zero and an RTO of less than 10 seconds was established within 17 weeks.

A large Canadian bank wanted to achieve data synchronicity across multiple technology platforms to achieve an RPO of zero.  The technologies within scope included IBM, Tandem and UNYSIS systems.  Working closely with the client’s technical team, Balardo Group provided critical design advice on hardware / software, contractual and operational considerations.  The design has subsequently been tested and implemented.

A key service provider to the Canadian financial services industry, this client in reviewing its business risk after SARS, determined that there was significant regional risk associated with several key business operations.  Balardo Group assisted this client, by first developing a compelling business case for geographically splitting business operations for several key business operations.  Subsequently Balardo Group led the development of a plan and provided project management to implement split business operations and support business continuity plans for several key functions.  About one year after the engagement was completed, these plans were executed due to a geographically isolated event.  High levels of end-user services were maintained during the event as well as during the return to normal business operations.

Balardo Group was engaged by a large Canada bank to act as DR manager on an interim basis.  Some of the responsibilities included DR testing, implementing changes due to new applications, day-to-day staff management and budgeting.  In addition to maintaining ongoing commitments this role also involved improving DR capabilities and efficiencies.  A key value add from this engagement was to simplify and consolidate testing which ultimately led to less weekend testing and improved reliability of DR capabilities.  Upon completion of the engagement the role was successfully transferred back to management

Recognizing that its DR capabilities were inadequate and lacked executive support, the organization responsible for disaster recovery engaged Balardo Group to develop a DR strategy that would better position it for the future.  In addition to these challenges, this government was under severe financial constraints and already had several major IT commitments.  Within these constraints Balardo Group developed a DR strategy that leveraged existing IT capabilities within the larger organization that recognized both the financial and organizational limitations.  The end result was a practical strategy that encouraged fundamental changes on how the DR organization addresses its objectives of increasing its overall DR capabilities and how it delivers services.

This highly successful media company rapidly expanded from a small company to a highly recognized brand name within the Canadian marketplace in a short time.  While the delivery of day–to-day services was highly reliable and responsive, it had no BC or DR plans.   The lack of appropriate contingency plans was recognized by a new CEO who asked that this exposure be addressed.  Subsequently the CFO engaged Balardo Group to develop a roadmap to improve BC / DR capabilities over a two-year period.  Working closely with all levels of the organization, in both the base business and IT, Balardo Group identified several key exposures, recommended corrective actions and developed a two-year plan to reduce the corporate risk.  This report was presented to the senior management team and was approved for implementation.

A Canadian financial institution was seeking to improve its business continuity plans in order to better handle disruptions.  For over 100 business units our role was to guide and coach on the development and maintenance of business continuity plans.  This involved demonstrating the importance of a comprehensive business continuity program as well as how to complete templates, reviewing the quality of the plans and helping with the testing and maintenance.  In addition we helped the business areas respond to audit issues.  As a result, the maturity of the business continuity process was improved dramatically.