Move to New Makati Site is Case Study in Business Continuation Planning

In an effort to continue serving its customers better and growing its Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) offerings, SENCOR--at the start of February 2007--transferred its Philippine operations from its old Pasay site to two floors at the Insular Life building in Ayala Avenue, Makati City.  While this move was seamless to all SENCOR customers, SENCOR management set aside some time to answer key questions that customers might have had. 

         Where has SENCOR Manila moved?

         Why did SENCOR move to a new site?  What advantages does this new site offer?

         When did SENCOR move?

         Will SENCOR continue to maintain its old site?

         Was my project put on hold, postponed, or delayed because of this move?

         How did SENCOR ensure a seamless and undisruptive transition?  What did SENCOR do to guarantee that my projects went on as if nothing happened?

         Who in SENCOR could I have contacted by e-mail or phone in case I saw a disruption in my project?

         What steps were available to me to avoid disruption in my project?

Where has SENCOR Manila moved?

SENCOR has moved to the financial and commercial hub of Metro Manila, an area surrounded by the Philippine Stock Exchange, many Philippine and international banks, and the Philippine headquarters of other global organizations.  SENCOR’s new address is: 

6781 Ayala Avenue

9th and 10th Floors

Makati City 1226

Philippines

Phone: +63 2 817 1500

Fax: +63 2 817 1504

Why did SENCOR move to a new site?  What advantages does this new site offer?

Expansion.  SENCOR’s primary reason for this move is expansion.  SENCOR is committed to grow its capacity for your current and future project needs, and critical to this capacity growth is increased space.

Continuous Improvement.  A growth in capacity also needs greater flexibility and scalability in IT infrastructure and training facilities.  This new site offers tremendous improvements on these two key KPO success factors (technology and skills) on top of SENCOR’s already world-class infrastructure and training. 

Security and Business Continuation.  While SENCOR’s current security and business continuation practices have proven highly effective, this location at the center of vital Philippine economic activities positions SENCOR to benefit from the same security and business continuation infrastructure that applies to other global organizations in the area. 

In addition to the primary reasons above, SENCOR also recognizes the following side advantages of this new work location, all of them eventually cascading to higher-quality output and customer service: 

         Fast-paced and competitive work ethic

         Access to a large and diverse talent pool in the area

         Proximity to commerce and other extra-office amenities

         Greater employee morale

When did SENCOR move?

The first batch of SENCOR employees to move into the new site did so on the last week of January 2007, and all SENCOR employees settled into the new site a week hence.  Your specific SENCOR project contacts have informed you of their respective move dates. 

These move dates, however, were contingent on the success of pre-move workflow simulations and tests that each project team conducted on the new site.  SENCOR project teams would have postponed their move into their new areas and continued to serve your project from the old site until the new site passed their specific project workflow simulations and tests.  SENCOR would have rather postponed moving in order to continue smooth project operations rather than fast track the move and disrupt operations (see How did SENCOR ensure a seamless and undisruptive transition?).

Will SENCOR continue to maintain its current site?

For a time, SENCOR maintained both its old and new sites.  While SENCOR project teams were moving in batches from the old to the new site, both sites were operational.  Even now that everyone is settled into the new site, the post office will automatically route mail and parcel sent to SENCOR’s old site to the new address.  Now, all SENCOR Philippine operations take place from the new site.

Was my project put on hold, postponed, or delayed because of this move?

No.  SENCOR did not freeze, postpone, or delay any project because of this move.  If anything, your SENCOR project team contacts may have even submitted some of their deliverables ahead of the due dates, right before these teams moved into the new site.

How did SENCOR ensure a seamless and undisruptive transition?   What did SENCOR do to guarantee that my projects went on as if nothing happened?

Workflow Simulation and Testing.  All SENCOR project teams conducted a highly comprehensive, detailed, and documented workflow simulation on their respective areas in the new site before moving in.  This workflow simulation covered not only IT system elements (e.g. network connectivity, access to all applications and servers, successful system transactions), but also physical and communication elements (e.g. facilities, layout, work environment, physical access, ability to contact colleagues, customers, and suppliers).  The result of these per-project workflow simulations was any one of: 

         Unconditional Pass (completely ready to move in)

         Pass with Pending Items (ready to move in with minor, non-dealbreaking, non-showstopping items for subsequent resolution and re-testing)

         Fail (not ready to move in)

No project team would have stopped operations at the old site and moved into the new site while their workflow simulation resulted in a deal-breaking, show-stopping Fail.  Only project teams that experienced an Unconditional Pass or a Pass with Pending Items moved into the new site on their assigned dates. 

Contingency Plan.  The contingency plan to a failed workflow simulation was to continue operations at the old site.  This was the advantage of an overlapping period when SENCOR maintained operations on both sites. 

Backup.  Right before each project team’s move (i.e. as of the cut-off time of the team’s last old-site operational day), SENCOR backed up all this team’s data in a format readily accessible at both the old and new sites.  This was on top of the normal periodic data backups that SENCOR performs.  Operational problems at the new site were then be subject to SENCOR’s existing Business Continuation Plan. 

Professional Help.  SENCOR also contracted a logistics firm to move SENCOR’s materials (under SENCOR’s close supervision) from the old to the new sites.  These FAIM-accredited professional move management specialists have worked with great success for many other real-time operations.

Who in SENCOR could I have contacted by e-mail or phone in case I saw a disruption in my project?

Existing contact information in SENCOR’s Business Continuation Plan held.  You received separate lists of cell phone numbers and primary and backup e-mail addresses from your specific project contacts.  You also received contact details of the SENCOR management team overseeing this move.

What steps were available to me to avoid disruption in my project?

The responsibility to avoid disruption in your project lay mostly in SENCOR’s hands, so we did not ask much from you. 

SENCOR’s Network Communications (Netcomm) team worked with your technology and network team to setup all the connectivity requirements between your organization and SENCOR’s new site. 

You noted the phone numbers of your project contacts and SENCOR management and kept handy your copy of SENCOR’s Business Continuation Plan for your project.  You were welcome to have called us for anything about your project during this transition. 

Only if possible and not disruptive, you also allowed your specific SENCOR project contacts the option to submit to you part of their deliverables ahead of time, the remaining exactly on the due date.