BPO expert cites need for disaster recovery program

MANILA, Philippines - An expert in the business process outsourcing industry (BPO) has cited the need for companies to set up a disaster recovery program to avoid disruptions in their operations in case of natural disasters and emergencies.

Rick Lowe, who has over 20 years of experience in the information technology (IT) sector, said every call center and BPO company needs to have a disaster recovery program (DRP) to cope with uncertainties.

Lowe was the guest speaker during the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Event, which was sponsored by leading BPO solutions provider inContact recently.

Some 50 IT executives from different companies attended the forum, which discussed the best practices in creating an internal and external communication plan, effective ways to communicate with customers in case of an emergency, and what the industry should expect from government agencies during and after a disaster.

Lowe is the chairman and CEO of R Lowe Services, a Metro Manila-based company engaged in IT marketing and promotion, business continuity and disaster recovery services. He has over 20 years of experience in IT, both as a senior executive and in various operational roles, supporting the likes of eBay, Yahoo, Lycos, Dell Computer and other top corporations. 

Before forming his own company, he was the vice-president for IT operations of Telus International in the Philippines, supporting over 15,000 employees worldwide.

Results of a recent study by technology research firm Gartner found that only 35 percent of BPO facilities have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan and that fewer than 10 percent of companies have implemented a business recovery and continuity process.  

Junie Pama, country manager of inContact in the Philippines, said call centers and BPOs without a disaster recovery program are highly exposed to natural disasters that are most likely to result in hardware failures and subsequently in the disruption of business operations.

inContact, the world’s largest cloud-based call center solution provider, offers a DRP solution that allows clients to remain in contact with the rest of the word, even amidst disaster. Such flexible cloud-based DRP solutions are hosted in multiple sites, unlike the premise-based technologies which are highly exposed to natural disasters that are most likely to result in hardware failures and subsequently in the disruption of business operations.

inContact’s hosted DRP solutions include geographic redundancy, which ensures that even if one hosting site goes down, all functionality switches over to the second site. It guarantees a 99.99 percent uptime and offers flexible connectivity options, which ensures that companies get calls to agents even if some options are failing.