Each organization goes through several stages of development, which define the quality of provided services. In turn, taking into consideration that disasters are unavoidable within the business industry, it is tremendously essential to develop disaster recovery plans (DRP). These documents usually include structured approaches that describe how an organization can quickly resume work after an unplanned incident. DRPs are extremely relevant under the circumstances of the constant impact of external factors on business, as disasters are likely to cause major modifications of the company’s operational mechanisms. At the same time, disasters have a considerable influence not only on small companies but also world’s leading corporate organizations. For instance, Bain & Company is a global consultancy that is known in numerous countries, although its activity can still be impacted by external factors. Therefore, in order to minimize the effects of a disaster on this organization, it is crucial to develop an appropriate DRP.
Overview of the Organization
Founded in 1973, Bain & Company is a globally known organization that provides advice to public, private, and non-profit organizations in terms of strategy, operations, technology, organization, and digital transformation. Accordingly, numerous companies, regardless of their size and kind of services, have the opportunity to improve the quality of their services by cooperating with Bain & Company. With a total of 61 offices in 38 countries around the world, this organization has succeeded in becoming one of the best management consultants in the world (Weller, 2018). For over 40 years, this company has been maintaining the highest level of client advocacy in the industry, thereby achieving its main goal. However, its development has been affected by a variety of internal and external threats from different perspectives. For example, this organization has faced the problem regarding the inability to stay relevant in a new age of tech-savvy clients and big data analytics. Subsequently, representatives of Bain & Company should be able to rely on the highest quality DRP policy.
The DRP policy
Disaster Declaration
Taking into account that a major disaster affecting the activity of Bain & Company exists, it is vital to activate an array of different programs to assist in the response and recovery effort. The danger of working in the field of consulting business is lower than running a business in another industry, although it still exists. On the one hand, the selected company has appropriate structure resources and personnel to achieve the main business objectives. On the other hand, Bain & Company is more vulnerable than its primary competitor, such as McKinsey, which can be explained by poor expertise in the areas where the company does not operate (Shein, 2021). In other words, this company operates in an adverse business environment where it can be impacted by cyber-attacks, new competition, changing client behavior, and project complexity.
Assessment of Security
Recently, cyber crimes have become a significant issue for different types of business organizations. When it comes to Bain & Company, this organization pays a vast amount of attention to a foundational analysis that can be used to build a truly robust and resilient cybersecurity program to protect data. Hence, numerous years of professional experience in the area of consulting have helped this organization to gain a high level of knowledge in terms of enterprise technology, cloud computing, and digital operations.
Potential Disaster Scenarios and Methods of Dealing with the Disaster
First, changing client behavior is a considerable threat to a variety of business organizations, although Bain & Company is at high risk of facing issues associated with this threat. In order to reduce the negative consequences of this problem, the consulting company will have to gain people’s trust, provide more value at the same cost, and deliver immediate results (Appendix A). Second, the activity of Bain & Company can be impacted by the intention of potential customers to demand greater value and flexibility at lower prices. As a result, companies are forced to consult executives to recalibrate their own business models accordingly (Song et al., 2017). Third, the consulting industry has become a tremendously popular field of business, which is why Bain & Company constantly face threats from new competitors. To keep popularity on the international market, consulting firms should regularly monitor current trends in the business area and implement innovative decisions to meet all expectations of clients (Appendix B).
At the same time, it is essential to consider the effect of project complexity on the quality of provided services. In fact, several decades of experience had helped Bain & Company to improve the process of delivering projects according to the expectations of clients. However, with a considerable advancement of innovative technologies, clients seek consulting firms that are capable of delivering projects with a high level of speed and customer support. Therefore, representatives of Bain & Company should constantly improve the professional skills of the personnel by offering appropriate training sessions.
Disaster Recovery Procedures
There is a vast number of recovery procedures that can be performed to minimize the effect of specific disasters. For instance, three main elements of recovery procedures should be taken into consideration, including emergency response procedures, backup operations procedures, and recovery actions procedures. They differ in the context of used tools and expected results, although all the procedures have a considerable significance for the welfare of a certain organization.
The Incident Response Team (IRT) Charter
Executive Summary
In order to respond to a variety of emergency incidents, each organization should have a professional incident response team. The number of employees involved in this department depends on the size of the organization itself. However, there are three main specialists who should be working in this team unconditionally. In fact, an incident response manager should take responsibility for the process of detection, analysis, and containment of an incident, whereas security analysts work with the purpose to research the time, location, and details of an incident. Finally, threat researchers are required to research and gather information with the goal to provide threat intelligence and context for a disaster. If an appropriate number of professional specialists is hired, the process of incident response will bring positive results in a short period. The plan listed below demonstrates the significance of IRT under the circumstance of an unstable business environment.
Mission Statement
The mission is to improve the quality of services provided by Bain & Company, as well as minimize the impact of potential disasters on customer satisfaction levels, profits, and overall image on the international market.
Incident Declaration
This part of the DRP policy plays a crucial role, as it provides guidance from the perspective of workplace illnesses, injuries, near misses, and accidents that are likely to affect the success of the whole organization. Moreover, each organization, including Bain & Company, should have access to a secure web-enabled means of reporting computer security incidents that are tremendously common in the 21st century. In case of data loss, representatives of the consulting firm are required to use an incident reporting system that assists analysts in providing timely handling of security issues (Prasetyo et al., 2020). By completing a specific form, the staff of Bain & Company will have the opportunity to avoid productivity disruption, reputation damage, and exposure of confidential information.
Organizational Structure
- Incident Response manager
- Technical measurement group
- Episode Response supervision
- Technical estimation group
- Correspondence group
- Event answer support
Roles and Responsibilities
The technical estimation group should obtain high-quality professional skills to address potential external and internal threats, as well as achieve appropriate objectives. This team should include numerous specialists, including:
- Data Insurance Representative – makes informed decisions in the area of insurance and provides threats supervision with the help of analytical tools.
- HR Specialist – provides insight on the best way to deal with the problem through laborers.
- Law Agent – provides master administration on legitimate issues.
- PR Specialist – advises on the most proficient method to chat with general society and customers affected by a certain business threat.
- BCP Specialist – provides guidance regarding the most effective frameworks, applications, and systems that can be utilized.
Information Flow and Methods of Communication
Organizational communication flows significantly depend on the size and type of organization. When it comes to Bain & Company, it is a firm of great size, which means that information flow is based on several directions, such as downward, upward, horizontally, and diagonally. In fact, different types of information are transferred among departments differently in order to reduce the chance of a message being distorted or misunderstood. In case of a considerable business threat, the information should be provided on the basis of downward communication flows, as company leaders and experts should take responsibility for informing lower-class employees about current situations and potential consequences (Song et al., 2017). Nevertheless, if disasters are noticed by lower-class employees in the first place, upward communication flow should be selected.
Methods and Services Provided by the IRT
Incident response teams serve an extremely important function in the organization, as this group of IT specialists are involved in strong executive support and inter-departmental participation. Their main tasks are analysis of essential information, discussion of activities that are likely to affect incidence level, as well as sharing crucial reports across the company in order to inform staff regarding potential threats and preventative measures. In other words, the primary purposes of this department are to coordinate and utilize the main professional resources with team members during different types of disasters.
Authority and Reporting Procedures
Taking into consideration that Bain & Company is a large company, a self-evident approach to reporting should not be used in this case. It can only be used by small organizations with several employees who do not require comprehensive reporting procedures to share some kind of information. In the case of the discussed consulting firm, it is vital to combine several types of reporting, such as staff authority and functional authority. For example, staff authority is a great reporting approach that is based on the idea to provide advice and other services to line managers, whereas functional authority can be used if certain staff managers have authority throughout the whole organization (Prasetyo et al., 2020). The combination of these methods is expected to result in the development of a high-quality reporting system.
References
Prasetyo, H., Supriatna, N., Raharjo, A., & Wikusna, W. (2020). Information technology disaster recovery plan (IT-DRP) model-based on NIST framework in Indonesia. International Journal of Applied Information Technology, 3(01), 34. Web.
Shein, E. (2021). Bain & Company tops the list of Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in 2021. TechRepublic. Web.
Song, Y., Li, C., Olshansky, R., Zhang, Y., & Xiao, Y. (2017). Are we planning for sustainable disaster recovery? Evaluating recovery plans after the Wenchuan earthquake. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 60(12), 2192-2216. Web.
Weller, C. (2018). What it’s like to work at Bain & Company, one of the best workplaces of 2018. Business Insider. Web.
Appendix A
The Main Challenges Caused by Changing Client Behavior
Appendix B
Methods Used by Consulting Firms to Boost Profitability
