Watch out for the baobabs!

The Business Continuity Management and the “The Little Prince”

Everyone knows the quote with the rose from the Little Prince. Yet, little do they know about the one with the baobabs, in which a man neglected three little baobab-bushes and, when they grew big, they crashed his small planet.

I have been asked once for a complete voice over IP infrastructure rollout for an EMEA wide contact center. Reliability was the priority! So, the client asked for spare devices and redundant lines.

At those times I started shifting my focus to Process-, Quality-, Risk-, and Business continuity management. Therefore, I suggested that approach instead. He rejected it and went live with a redundant infrastructure instead.

Everybody was happy, I received a pat on the back, but it did not make me feel well.

Then, it happened: the office district received three bomb threat calls in a row and all buildings had to be evacuated. None of the expensive gadgets on the shelf were of any help.

Afterwards, we finally started talking about risk management and business continuity.

Resist the temptation of wasting your money on fancy technologies. Identify the evil bushes of risks first, act then accordingly.

Watch out for the baobabs!