"After a phone tunnel fire affecting 130,000 businesses including Yell,
ICM's efforts helped us to be up and running quickly with minimal disruption"
YELL
Alternative Sites, Invocations and Testing
An important risk mitigation is access to alternative sites to the principal alternative site. The Voluntary Supplier Risk Declaration indicates the location and capacity of other, nearby business continuity centres.
ICM has the widest network of business continuity centres covering the UK. These are strategically sited so that we not only have secondary, but also tertiary locations within a commutable distance of each other. This provides greater resilience and flexibility should multiple customers need to invoke their contracts concurrently.
Unless contracted, an alternative site would potentially only be made available on a 'best endeavours' basis if the primary business continuity centre is fully occupied when needed.
Clients have no contractual right to use additional sites, but can ‘roll back’ to them wherever they are not in use by a client contracted to that site. ICM would accommodate the need for alternative site use if at all possible. The network and size of ICM’s Business Continuity Centres, coupled with our stringent risk management practices, means that clients are more likely to have ‘roll back’ facilities available for use in a multiple invocation, than other business continuity providers.
Invocations and Rehearsals
The VSRD recognises the need to communicate if another client has invoked facilities which are available to other subscribers. This is an immediate information requirement which changes the risk profile significantly.
It is now well established that untested recovery facilities cannot be relied upon, therefore the VSRD also states what testing is under contract and what has been used.