LeasePlan operates in power outage using Plan-b

LeasePlan operates through power outage using Plan-b

When circumstances threatened their normal operations, fleet leasing and management company LeasePlan simply moved key staff to Plan-b’s standby facilities and continued operating their critical processes without missing a beat.

The power outages in Auckland on 3 February marked the third occasion that LeasePlan activated the standby facility service they get from business continuity specialist Plan-b. Part of Plan-b’s service is access to fully equipped office facilities in a vacant state of readiness.

“It’s like insurance,” says Chris Marshment, customer relations manager at Plan-b. “Our customers share the cost of maintaining the facility and can move their staff in there at short notice in a crisis.”

The facilities are fully equipped with desks, PCs, servers, telephones, PABX, data circuits and even kitchen facilities and parking for staff. Plan-b has two fully set up locations in Auckland and one in Hamilton, with a Wellington facility to come soon. In addition, the company has two mobile standby facilities that can be parked and powered up at a customer’s existing premises.

Anne Birkinshaw, office manager for LeasePlan, says their company had staff working at the Plan-b premises in Mt Wellington within an hour of the power going off. The outage occurred at 1.10pm on 3 February. By 1.20pm, LeasePlan had notified Plan-b that they would like to use the stand by facilities. By 1.45pm, a number of LeasePlan staff were working at the facility.

It is part of LeasePlan’s service level agreement to be available to field calls and support customers, so it was crucial to keep the phone lines open and the computer infrastructure operational.

“We have a UPS, so we could continue taking calls at our regular office in Remuera for a while,” says Birkinshaw. “Once our staff were in the standby facility, it was simply a matter of switching over calls coming in through our main line to Plan-b. Using the equipment in the standby facility, we had Internet access to our servers, which are based in Melbourne. We were able to provide our usual service. Most of our customers didn’t even know there was a problem.”

Even if LeasePlan had been reliant on local servers, Plan-b’s server recovery capability would have had them up and running very quickly.

“Most of our customers use our backup tape management and server recovery services along with the access to standby facilities,” says Plan-b’s Marshment.

“Usually what people want in a crisis are phones, access to computer systems and a place to congregate. In a crisis, more than any other time, staff need to congregate. They need to be able to talk about what is going on and what needs to be done until normal operations are restored.”

LeasePlan’s needs were more limited and they were able to bring staff back to the usual office within an hour, says Birkinshaw. “Still, the standby facility served its purpose for us.”

In the short term, LeasePlan only needs to answer phone calls and have access to their computer system for a defined list of critical processes. “However, in a crisis that prevents us from using our usual office longer term, we can transfer all 60 staff to the Plan-b facility. We find it very worthwhile to have this option available in a crisis.”

LeasePlan has been using Plan-b’s business continuity services since April 2006.

About LeasePlan
LeasePlan was established in Holland in 1963 and consists of a growing international network of companies engaged in fleet management and finance activities. They employ almost 6,000 people in 30 countries. In total, the Company manages 1.3 million vehicles worldwide and has a consolidated lease portfolio of €14 billion. LeasePlan has held a universal bank licence since 1993 and is regulated by the Dutch Central Bank. They established operations in New Zealand in 1993.

About Plan-b
Plan-b is New Zealand’s largest dedicated business continuity company, providing contingency services to over 500 organisations in New Zealand and Australia. This includes managing backup media and online backup, providing standby recovery facilities, server replication, server recovery and an online crisis response guide. Their advisory team can work with clients to review your Business Continuity Management programme and make sure that effective procedures are in place. They have customer facilities and offices in three Auckland locations, in Hamilton and in Wellington. In addition, their two mobile business recovery units can provide an effective temporary office. Plan-b’s sole aim is to ensure that, should crisis strike, their clients can be back up and running with little interruption and minimal loss.

ENDS

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