J C Designs staff were scheduled to do our 6-monthly review of our business continuity plan but ended up having to put it into action for real.

Staff arrived at work to find a car wedged into the wall and front entrance of the office, within minutes we were working off a well-planned document and working to keep J C Designs open for business.

JCD’s Charlie Spires was first on the scene and immediately began the chain of telephone calls to alert all the relevant people and services. Some staff were redirected to the Premier Inn where they could take calls and assist customers remotely, the remaining staff remained at the scene and started the process of ensuring all J C Designs services remained operational.

Once a structural engineer had arrived which was within the hour we began the task of relocating workstations directly affected by the incident to other parts of the building so all staff could continue to work. Due to us having a plan, we knew to call the structural engineer straight away to avoid any delays. Our next step was to isolate affected parts of our fire alarm system and arrange for construction engineers to make the building safe and ultimately secure.

DR and business continuity plans are nothing new to J C Designs, we have produced them for our customers many times before but it’s something you always hope you will never need to call upon however this incident gave us the perfect opportunity to act out our own plan for real.

This incident has really hit home the importance of being ready for a disaster, we suffered no real down time and this incident has had no impact on the services we provide to our customers. This was largely due to the fact that we were ready to act. No one would have ever imagined a car would take out the front of our building, this really was a freak accident but it just goes to show the unexpected does sometimes happen.

In light of this incident we would like to review our customer’s disaster recovery plans and help make sure everyone is prepared and able to stay open for business should they be affected by a disruptive incident.

What is a business continuity plan?

The simple answer is a list of important information and procedures to keep your business functioning. The business continuity plan should form part of your wider disaster recover plan.

This will include in its simplest form contact numbers you will need to assist you in a disaster such as IT Support, Insurance companies, Gas, Water services etc…

A well thought out document will include what to do if this happens, what to do if that happens etc…

Once you sit down and start putting the plans on paper you realise just how many things there are to take into consideration and even the smallest of things can have a big impact on your ability to function as a business.

Why is it important?

It’s important to keep your business functioning and to avoid downtime and ultimately to avoid loss of revenue.

How can J C Designs help?

We can help you work out what you would need to do regarding your IT among other aspects of your business in the event of a serious incident.

We can go through some possible scenarios and put together a documented plan of action. Obviously, you can’t account for every conceivable incident so you generalise, for example…

  • How would we cope with a flood in the server room?
  • How would we cope with a fire destroying some of our IT equipment?
  • How would we cope if we suffered a complete loss of our building?

Don’t be caught out by a disastrous incident! Be ready and prepared, Call JC Designs today for our expert help – 0845 272 7878