From central London to the far reaches of the world,

BBH relies on Shadow-Planner to make

sure business goes on.   

COMPANY SITUATION

BBH may not be the biggest advertising agency in London but it is certainly the best. Founded in 1982, the firm has grown to be a very well respected agency that is today responsible for maintaining and enhancing the brands of British Airways, Johnny Walker, Barclays Bank, Vodafone and a host of other world-class clients

While remote offices in Tokyo, Singapore, New York and Sao Paolo handle much of the day-to-day interaction with clients, the central London office maintains overall control. Given the centralized nature of this management approach, each remote office must maintain its own business infrastructure yet rely heavily on the central London headquarters. And with recent occurrences such as the 1997 flood and the 2005 bombings in London, business continuity has become vitally important for this hub of the firm’s activities.

THE PROBLEM

BBH is forward-thinking in its approach to business continuity. Rather than relying on outside regulations to impose the discipline of business continuity, the firm understands intrinsically the importance of protecting its brand.  BBH believes that business continuity strengthens their ability to help clients, and thus builds a stronger brand for the firm itself. “It’s just good business practice,” claims Andy Coppin, Head of Office Services at BBH, responsible for all buildings and functions within BBH.
   
 “We are not a heavily regulated industry like others, yet we fully understand the importance of business continuity. It’s especially important for our employees – everyone needs to know that, when the unexpected happens, they know what to do and where to go for information. The most important thing is knowing that people are OK.”.

The firm sought a BC automation tool that would serve as a means to consolidate, automate and keep up-to-date the many manual BC plans that had been developed. The tool would need to be immediately accessible to all employees in the event of an incident, thus indicating a preference for a web-based solution that could be accessed from an Internet café, a browser phone or a home computer if the office were unavailable. In addition, the solution had to be easy to use for employees around the globe who might only interact with it once or twice a year and could not afford a steep learning curve.

THE SOLUTION

BBH looked at a number of automated solutions but found that most of them were overly complex and quite expensive for a solution that may never even be fully implemented. Shadow-Planner, on the other hand, seemed to be simple to use and very cost-effective, while satisfying all the demands of the organization. Implementation was simple: everyone’s contact details were entered into the system, and then each department head decided, with the help of the system, what they would need in the event they needed to go to a warm site.

The system is being rolled out across the globe, based on each individual office coming online early on. Long-term plans call for a global manager of business continuity, but for now one person runs the system. “It doesn’t take a lot of time,” according to Coppin. “Shadow-Planner sends an email directly to the person responsible, and steps that individual through the simple process of updating the information. It also lets me see at a glance which plans have been updated, which are due and which, if any, are overdue. That makes management extremely simple.”

His advice to anyone looking for an automated BC planning tool: simplicity. Look for a solution that makes it very easy for someone, anywhere in the organization, to interact with the system and update information in an instant, with no learning curve. This way, tasks can be delegated to the appropriate level of the organization, and negative reaction to the tool is eliminated. 

BENEFITS

Shadow-Planner has brought immediate benefits to BBH. First of all, the time saved is tremendous. Without Shadow-Planner, the firm would have had to employ a full-time person just to get started. With Shadow-Planner, even people who interact with the tool only rarely are comfortable doing their tasks, leading to efficient and cost-effective delegation.

Second, senior executives are confident in the firm’s ability to respond to a crisis. They are not required to get terribly involved in the process, but when a situation such as the London bombings of July 2005 occurs, top executives can be assured that everything is in place.

Finally, Shadow-Planner has helped the firm respond positively to both insurers and customers such as Unilever and Barclays who require their partners to have complete, tested BC plans. “A few years ago, if a major corporation like Unilever asked us for our business continuity plan, we would have had to spend a lot of time manually compiling it,” explains Coppin  “Today, with Shadow-Planner, we simply print out the plan and it is up-to-date, comprehensive and very impressive indeed!”
 

ABOUT OFFICE-SHADOW

Established in 2001, Office-Shadow is one of the world’s leaders in business continuity management software and solutions with specialization in standards-based implementations and in the financial services market. The Company’s technical expertise is tempered with commercial experience drawn from both the public and private sectors. The result is a range of business continuity management products that are grounded in a firm understanding of how organizations actually work. Winner of the 2003 International Business Continuity Award for most innovative new product as well as of the 2006 award for best software product, and with a burgeoning base of blue chip organizations, Office-Shadow is well on its way to becoming a global leader in the delivery of business continuity solutions.