Lisa Kelly, Computing, Tuesday 2 December 2008 at 11:30:00

From power cuts in Nigeria to severe server congestion in Lancashire, Lisa Kelly reports on the potential hazards facing three very different organisations and the steps they have taken to ensure their operations are robust enough to withstand them

Consumer goods manufacturer PZ Cussons – ­ the company behind brands such as Imperial Leather and Carex – ­ is well versed in the complexities of multinational operations. Its founders set up their first overseas trading post in Sierra Leone in 1879. Since then, a series of acquisitions and expansions has seen the company establish operations around the world.

But that global reach also provides it with a multitude of challenges when it comes to ensuring the continuity of its operations. As Ged Bithell, head of group IT technical services at PZ Cussons explains, developing a comprehensive and cohesive strategy requires careful planning.

“Business continuity varies in each country and you have to think about it differently, but not necessarily in the way you’d expect,” he says. “There is the perception that Nigeria, for example, would present a challenge in terms of power supply, but it has the best UPS [uninterruptible power supply] of the whole group. They recover from disaster every day as power goes off 10 times a week ­ – it is a normal way of life. As a result, the UPS is massive ­ – as big as a whole server room,” says Bithell.

To understand the subtleties of regional variations, business continuity has to be approached from a business angle, rather than a technical one, says Bithell. “The key point is it is business continuity, not technical services continuity, and I have said to the business that it needs to tell me what it wants. The question the business needs to answer is what can it live without: ERP? Email? How important is the internet? When it gives me something to work with, I can give it what is needed to support it,” he says.

The company is embarking on a 12-month review of its business continuity strategy, with a focus on ensuring provisions are commensurate with business needs.

“We are not a bank. If one of our systems is down, the world will not stop, but it is very important to get a clear definition of what we can and cannot work without and for how long. When it is defined and the business says: ‘This is what we can do in these circumstances’, then if there is a gap, my task is to come back to the business and explain what it needs to spend money on,” says Bithell.

The global continuity effort is driven from the company’s Stockport headquarters. As with all manufacturers, the supply chain is pivotal.

“Our supply chain is critical – ­ it is the backbone of what we do. We are a manufacturer, but also a trader and have taken the decision to enhance our distribution network,” says Bithell.

For example, PZ Cussons’ depots in Nigeria are used as assembly and distribution centres by Chinese white goods manufacturer Haier.

PZ Cussons is also intensifying efforts to reduce costs through group sourcing and encouraging suppliers to collaborate on product development. These efforts place greater emphasis on the efficacy of its supply chains and the communication networks that underpin them.

To safeguard these vital communications channels, PZ Cussons signed up managed service provider Vistorm, which allowed it to specify its expected levels of resilience in the contract. The deal also guarantees high levels of network security, simple remote access across disparate networks and global support for shared applications.

“We were a customer of Vistorm in the UK, but we decided it was time to join the group together,” says Bithell. He says that a high and consistent standard of security for the company’s Orange MPLS-based supply chain network ensures that its operations are protected from viruses and malicious attacks.

“With strict service level agreements (SLAs) in place, I have peace of mind and can get on and do my job. Everything we do in the IT services team should count towards the profit-making side of the business. We make soap, we don’t manage firewalls. It is Vistorm’s responsibility to respond to a problem on the other side of the world at 2am,” he says.

Vistorm also recently managed the delivery of application acceleration technology from Juniper Networks.

“Having a managed services contract in place is helping protect our network from the outside world. We are also making better use of the network, which means we are not in the position of having to keep asking Orange for more bandwidth,” says Bithell.

The contract with Vistorm, which also covers managed authentication for remote access, is underpinned by stringent SLAs – ­ see below – and has removed complexity and unpredictability of costs.

“For a while, we battled to do network security ourselves, but we did not have the skills or resources to manage security and remote access at this level of complexity,” says Bithell.

Vistorm is one of a handful of global infrastructure suppliers that are fundamental to the company’s business continuity. Others include HP, which provides managed services for desktop infrastructure, and Orange for mobile services.

Bithell has insisted that these suppliers collaborate, to ensure the smooth running of the business. “I have Vistorm and HP in the same room – ­ it is silly for them not to work together and it promotes healthy competition,” says Bithell. “People need to get together to pool ideas. It is about people with knowledge networking together, tapping into expertise and collaborating,” he adds.

PZ Cussons is also planning to deploy IP telephony across the business, increasing the need for a resilient network.

“A key drive is to put in IP telephony, but we need to keep the network up and running. It has to be in good condition and Vistorm will ensure this,” says Bithell. There will always be some events that are beyond the company’s control, acknowledges Bithell, such as an underwater cable breaking or attacks on an exchange in Africa ­ – a scenario that Orange had to deal with recently by providing communication via a satellite link ­ – but having robust relationships with technology suppliers ensures that problems can be overcome.

Bithell is focused on making these relationships even stronger and he believes that by honing a holistic business continuity strategy, the company can face any challenge with equanimity.

Next week: in the third part of our Definitive Guide to business continuity, we examine the technologies that firms can deploy to safeguard their operations

SLAs build resilience into PZ Cussons’ global operations

Ged Bithell, head of group IT technical services at PZ Cussons, says that service level agreements (SLAs) with key suppliers are an essential part of the manufacturer’s business continuity strategy.

“SLAs are reviewed at least every year and help to improve contracts to ensure technical services become more resilient,” says Bithell.

The manufacturer is approaching the final year of a five-year contract with Orange, and Bithell says it is an opportunity to renegotiate around some of its business continuity criteria. “It is not a case of just carrying on as before – we want a better contract in place that improves resilience,” he says.

The life span of a contract affects SLAs and Bithell believes that having a year-long contract with Vistorm, which provides a managed service for network security, is working in his favour.

“Because we sign a new contract every year with Vistorm, it is in many respects beneficial to us as we can factor in any changes, and as a company we are forever changing,” says Bithell.

The longer deal with Orange reflects the greater level of investment and complexity. While Vistorm provides a single SLA for the service it provides, Orange has different SLAs for different regions.

“We would love to have a single global deal, but we need to have different SLAs as we have some areas that are particularly challenging, such as Nigeria,” says Bithell. Likewise, SLAs with HP reflect the challenges presented by varying locations. “Getting a hardware replacement in Nigeria cannot be compared with getting one in Stockport,” he says.

However, the global rollout of HP-managed desktops with a single Active Directory has simplified some business continuity challenges. “HP can now make changes with upgrades to Microsoft Office, for example, over a weekend,” says Bithell. PZ Cussons’ SLAs stress the need for the company’s various suppliers to work closely together.

Vistorm, for example, manages change control and security policy, so that whenever a new application comes on stream from HP, Vistorm optimises the environment to maintain the highest standard of service to PZ Cussons’ users.

“Where appropriate, we will encourage Vistorm to ring HP’s helpdesk. We try to make as many connections as possible between suppliers in our SLAs. We are paying for a service where we shouldn’t have to play a part in getting every problem solved,” says Bithell.

HP will have internal contracts with local third parties to service its main SLA with PZ Cussons, but Bithell says it is not necessary to know about the nitty gritty of problems. “As a global company, we have to manipulate, monitor and manage relationships with suppliers, and getting the right SLAs and ensuring that suppliers talk to each other helps us achieve this,” he says.

Full published article at: http://feeds.computing.co.uk/c/554/f/10981/s/27b55e4/l/0L0Scomputing0O0Ccomputing0Cfeatures0C22317240Csolid0Erock0E4370A964/story01.htm

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