The Worried Executive's Guide: Preventing the Telephone Company's Disasters from Becoming Yours (Part 3 of 3)
- A: Where Will You Meet After a Disaster?
- B: Make Your Phone Numbers Follow You
- C: Recognize the Benefits and Pitfalls of Wireless Phones
- D: Consider Two-Way Radios
- E: Carry Pagers
- F: Large Campus? Consider a Low-Power AM Broadcast Station
- G: Who Will Clean Up the Mess?
- H: Who Rewires the Building?
- I: Consult a Commercial Disaster-Recovery Center
- J: Are Your People Willing to Leave Town in a Disaster?
- K: What If Some People Dont Show Up?
- L: Does Everyone Know How to Get to the Recovery Center?
- M: Test Your Recovery Center
- N: Do You Know How to Use the Recovery Center Phones?
- O: Whos in Charge of the Recovery?
- P: Keeping the EMT Apprised
- Q: Who Will Retrieve Data Stored Offsite?
- R: Consider Online Vaulting
- S: Where Is Your Voice Mail System?
- T: Look Carefully at Automated Call Distribution Units
- U: Dont Expect Anything to Work the First Time After a Disaster
- V: Where Will You Get Telecommunications Test Equipment?
- W: For Want of a Nail
- X: Seen Any Good Books Lately?
- Y: Could You Work at the Recovery Center for a Long Time?
- Z: What Did You Learn From Your Last Test?
- Summary: What Did You Learn from This Series?
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Think of this article as "Telecommunications Disaster Recovery Considerations, A–Z." There are 26 specific items for your consideration. Some items center on how to develop a telecommunications recovery plan; some address how to test one. Many items deal with the important issue of maintaining command and control. Use this as a handy checklist of items that you may not have considered with regard to your telecommunications disaster recovery plan—kind of like the fast-food equivalent for recovery planning.
Let’s dive right in!
A: Where Will You Meet After a Disaster?
Issue: One major role of telecommunications in a disaster is command and control. You’ll need to set up the eyes and ears of your organization in a place from which recovery can be coordinated. If your original building is totally inaccessible or lacks the required telecommunications, water, or sanitary facilities, it will be necessary to set up a staging area in a nearby location conducive to your type of business.
Action: Identify a prearranged staging area for recovery operations, such as in a nearby hotel. After the location has been identified, it will need to be capable of handling communications. That responsibility lies in the telecommunications recovery plan.