En Español

While steps taken in building a business continuity program (BCP) are unique to each organization, the ultimate goal is the same: to establish a program that will prevent or greatly reduce any type of work interruption. This goes for an insurance company in London, a credit union in New York, a technology company in Japan, or an electrical utility company based in Panama like Elektra Noreste.

The path taken by Elektra Noreste in creating their business continuity plan was typical in some cases, unique in others. The end result is a flourishing program that benefits from a smart methodology and strong support.

Initial Steps
Elektra Noreste is responsible for the tremendous task of delivering electricity to close to 300,000 citizens of the northeast area of the Republic of Panama. “Almost as soon as we began our BCP, we realized this wasn’t a project to be treated lightly,” said Javier Pariente, Elektra Noreste’s CEO.“Its administration and maintenance were going to require a steady, yet flexible frame to keep it real and functional.”

Like many organizations, they once relied on a word processing program to maintain their BCP. “Using (a word processing program) gave us a very isolated vision,” explained Vianka Ng, Risk Manager at Elektra Noreste. “We didn’t have a good grasp on what our processes were, the relationships between our processes and their owners, or even the responsibilities that each person had in terms of their tasks.”

Elektra Noreste had run into a common stumbling block - the inability to get their arms around their program and fully understand its scope or breadth. “Bottom line, we were unfamiliar with the subject matter,” said Edwin Bustavino, IT Director of Elektra Noreste. “Intense internet research, assistance from our former parent company and some internal experience helped us get up to speed with the BCP process.”

In addition, Ng explained their difficulty executing two of the most important elements in plan building: realizing the minimum requirements necessary to restore a process and organizing every piece of information in a cohesive manner. Now, using Strohl’s LDRPS, Ng has a strong grasp on the duties involved in maintaining a BCP. “With LDRPS, our plan can be searched and updated easily, and we have a clear vision of the many processes it contains. This wasn’t the case when using (word processing software).”

The initiative in using LDRPS came about in 2004, resulting from a reference from their former parent company, a United States based utility corporation that also continues to use the product. “The fact that our parent company at the time had a policy stating that we must have a BCP let us know that we had executive management buy-in,” explained Bustavino. “After reviewing the plan we had in place at the time, they made mention of their use of LDRPS. We contacted Strohl and learned they had distributors in Latin America.”

Strohl Systems Iberoamérica, the Latin distributor of Strohl products and services, arrived when Elektra Noreste was halfway through launching their program. Their first step in working with Elektra was to migrate into LDRPS all the information that had already been developed via word processing software. “Their initial assistance was twofold,” Ng explained. “After migrating our data into LDRPS, they helped in structuring our information which helped us better administer and manage our program as well as strengthen it by maximizing the capabilities and concepts that the software uses.”

Today’s Program
A key success factor that helped Elektra Noreste’s successful implementation and still helps them today is one thing that every BC program in existence needs: support. “Everyone from upper management down to anyone in charge of a process regardless of where they fell in the organizational chart worked together in unison to meet their goals to develop the plan,” explained Bustavino. “The owners of the business processes have taken their roles very seriously. Tests are performed regularly, and we’ve reached the point where any impact on our BC program is considered whenever any new processes are introduced into our company.”

A big reason why this exceptional enthusiasm exists at Elektra Noreste is due to the careful steps they took during the initial stages of building the program. “We had a series of meetings with our plans’ process owners,” said Bustavino, “where we established the concepts of risks and BCP, preventative measures, and the importance of their own personal processes and what resources each would need in order to follow through with their assigned tasks.” This education resulted in a “buy in” of sorts from the process owners regarding their benefit and value add to the program at a personal level. “These same people (process owners) participated in building the plan and continue to build and test the plan today.”

The Future…
Prevailing over typical stumbling blocks, building a program smartly from the ground up, and having strong support have all helped Bustavino, in his words, “have a better night’s sleep.” A good philosophy and approach have also played a sizable role. “The actual concepts of why the program exists must be embraced in order to have the necessary enthusiasm present,” said Bustavino. “It must be seen as a long-term business vision…a thing that is perpetual and on-going. Over time, that feeling of security will transmit to investors and add value to the company.”

What about the rest of Panama? Does this part of the world realize the importance of an effective continuity program? “It’s a matter that is just starting to get attention,” explained Bustavino. “There is much to do.”

For more information on LDRPS, contact Strohl Systems at 800 634-2016, +1 610-768-4120 or at info@strohlsystems.com.

For information in Spanish, contact info@strohliberoamerica.com