Developing a Disaster Plan for Your Call Center

1. Developing a Disaster Plan for Your Call Center

2. Before We Start, Let’s Get Acquainted Today’s Speaker Tom FitzGibbon, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, UNext, LLC Background • 15 Years Inbound and Outbound Call Center Management experience (65-250 seats) • Financial Services • Insurance • Non-Profit • Education • 4 Years Call Center consulting experience

3. Agenda Today’s Topics • Call Center Disasters • Typical Resolution Plans • Disaster Costs – Quantitative and Qualitative • Disaster Prevention Planning • Q & A

4. Disasters Can Range From a Short Term Network Outage to the Loss of the Facility Call Center Disasters • Network (national) Telecom Failure • Local Telecom Failure • Power Loss • Data Loss / Inaccessibility • Supporting Systems Outage • Acts of God Not only is the type of disaster a factor, but the length of time the disaster exists is also important

5. Disasters and Resolution Plans

6. When a Failure Occurs Within Your National Telecom Network, Steps Must Be Taken Quickly to Restore Service Timeline Action Steps Less than 1 Hour • Contact local support for provider • Determine provider’s action plans to resolve issue • Notify customers of outage • Instruct provider to message callers 1 – 2 Hours • Contact provider for resolution progress • Determine any fall-over options 2 – 4 Hours • Contact local telecom vendor for options • Contact network provider for progress report • Execute fall-over options if available 4 – 12 Hours • Contact network provider for progress report • Determine inbound call diversion plan Greater than 12 Hours • Execute inbound call diversion plan • Contact network provider for progress report

7. When a Failure Occurs Within Your Local Telecom Network, Action Steps Are Similar to the National Level Timeline Action Steps Less than 1 Hour • Contact local support for provider • Determine provider’s action plans to resolve issue • Notify customers of outage • Instruct provider to message callers 1 – 2 Hours • Contact provider for resolution progress • Determine any fall-over options 2 – 4 Hours • Contact local telecom vendor for options • Contact network provider for progress report • Execute fall-over options if available 4 – 12 Hours • Contact network provider for progress report • Determine agent relocation plan Greater than 12 Hours • Execute agent relocation plan • Contact network provider for progress report

8. When a Power Failure Occurs, Alternative Power Options Should Be Considered Timeline Action Steps Less than 1 Hour • Contact local support for provider • Determine provider’s action plans to resolve issue • Instruct telephony network providers to message customers • Activate redundant power supply 1 – 2 Hours • Contact provider for resolution progress • Determine any fall-over options 2 – 4 Hours • Contact provider for progress report • Execute fall-over options if available 4 – 12 Hours • Contact provider for progress report • Determine inbound call diversion plan Greater than 12 Hours • Execute inbound call diversion plan • Contact provider for progress report

9. When Data Is Lost or Inaccessible, Internal and External Communications Are Necessary Timeline Action Steps Less than 1 Hour • Notify internal staff of outage • Determine restoration plan • Determine fall-over options • Contact technical support for software product (if applicable) 1 – 2 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress • Determine business impacts 2 – 4 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress • Access back-up data source • Execute back-up plan 4 – 12 Hours • Contact software provider for progress report Greater than 12 Hours • Notify staff of progress • Arrange on-site service call from technology vendor

10. Generally, When Internal Systems or Technologies Fail, There Is a Cascading Effect Throughout the Enterprise Timeline Action Steps Less than 1 Hour • Notify internal staff of outage • Notify and engage internal technical support • Determine fall-over options • Contact technical support for software product (if applicable) 1 – 2 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress • Determine business impacts • Notify customers of problem 2 – 4 Hours • Notify internal staff of progress • Access back-up data source • Execute back-up plan 4 – 12 Hours • Contact software provider for progress report Greater than 12 Hours • Notify staff of progress • Arrange on-site service call from technology vendor

11. “Acts of God” Disasters Can Have a Long Term Impact on Operational Performance Timeline Action Steps At Event • Contact Government (police, fire, etc.) for assistance • Notify customers (network telephony provider) • Notify Staff • Determine fall-over availability • Determine access to data/systems • Execute fall-over plan • Determine employee relocation plan • Execute relocation plan

12. Disasters Costs

13. For Call Centers, Disaster Prevention Planning Can Be a Costly Endeavor Action Step Description Cost Contract with a outsourced call center Engaging in a contract with an outsourced call center that can support overall operations of the call center in the event of a disaster or in high call volume situations Monthly access charge whether service is used or not Develop internal redundancies to support systemic outages Invest in back up hardware, software, and back up power supplies to support operations in the event of an outage Cost of servers and power units Add clause to all vendor contracts that require immediate redundancy For use with software, hardware and network vendors that requires immediate fall over capability Additional costs charged by vendors

14. Quantitative Costs of Disasters Are Significant Cost Description Loss of Revenue When disasters occur, customers can’t interact with your company. Thus, they either don’t buy, delay purchase, or go with another vendor that provides a like good or service Staff Costs When disasters occur, subsets or the entire staff of the company is idle waiting for a resolution to the problem Relocation Costs In the event of a significant disaster, your company may have to relocate operations, people, and resources to restart operations at another location

15. Disasters Prevention Planning

16. While It’s Difficult to Prevent a Disaster, the Level of Planning Will Impact the Events Planning Step Description ID Critical Systems Determine what systems are necessary to maintain operations in the call center. Examples would be ACD/PBX, Recording, databases, and servers supporting the call center. ID Vendor Service Level Agreements Determine the level of support provided by external contractors providing support to call center systems. Service levels should be tied to specific outage thresholds, and should require onsite support if specific events result Draft the Call Center DR Plan Develop the DR plan for the call center that addresses the needs of all constituencies impacted by an outage in the call center. This should include customers, staff, and vendors Establish a Testing Process After development, test the plan routinely to make sure it has the intended results Maintain the Plan As new technologies, people, and vendors are brought on board, update the plan to ensure adherence and required performance

17. Thank You for Attending, Now to Your Questions Contact Information Thomas P. FitzGibbon, III 1309 North Wells Street – Suite 708 Chicago, IL 60610 (312) 907-7634 Email: tfitzgib3@ameritech.net