Disaster recovery and outsourcing are two emotionally charged issues facing document processing managers today. Disaster recovery only gains attention during and immediately after a crisis, while outsourcing is often a knee-jerk reaction by companies that want to cut costs. In reality, disaster recovery and outsourcing are core aspects of strategic planning for forward-thinking managers.

Do It Now

The lack of a disaster recovery plan is a sure sign of poor management. It's foolish to think that weather, natural disasters or terrorist attacks could never affect your company. Even before the terrorist attacks, most companies had some sort of Information Technology (IT) recovery plan. However, very few companies have complete document processing disaster recovery plans. Most companies either don't consider document processing mission critical, or they simply don't see disaster recovery as enough of a priority to spend the money. This is true even of companies that print and distribute hundreds of thousands of pages per day.

So how do you begin? First, categorize all applications as critical, important or routine. Survey the document owners to determine the value of documents to the daily operations of their business units. If a unit absolutely needs the document to conduct its work, then it is "critical." If not having access to the printed document won't halt the unit's work but will have a negative impact on operational or fiscal status, then it's "important." All other documents are routine and include any information available through an online system or that can be gleaned from other materials for example, monthly budget reports. Make sure that business units justify classifying any document as critical or important.

Safeguard the Process

Starting with the critical applications, review each step of the process for possible breakdowns in the system. Consider the consequences if the steps can't be completed in their normal manner and the cascading impact that will have on the process. First, the connection to your IT system is important for both your production units as well as on-demand operations that process digital documents. Think about how you would operate if the IT connection was lost, and map out how to establish a link to the IT disaster recovery provider. Include any print stream conversion, address cleansing or mail run data file steps in your preprint specifications. Ensure that you have licenses to disaster recovery copies of the software and that the software runs in all environments. Also, check for access to stored documents and address databases.

Understand each step in the document process including print language and type of equipment. Note any special output concerns such as paper stock or ink. Follow the document through any post-print processing including inserters, stitchers or booklet makers. Have complete definitions of all optical mark recognition codes or other barcodes.

Continue to follow the process into the delivery and/or mailing of these documents. In a disaster recovery scenario, either the print operation or the business unit has relocated. You must figure out how to transport critical documents to that unit. And you must establish procedures for transferring postage funds. If using permit mail, you'll need to negotiate an agreement with the U.S. Postal Service to deposit mail in the new location.

An often-overlooked step is the return and inbound mail process. Remittance mailers must verify that invoices produced by different printers can be read on their processing equipment. In addition, you should speak to your USPS representatives of possibly having mail redirected to a new location.

Selection and Testing

When choosing a disaster recovery provider for print/mail services, all of the rules pertaining to selecting an outsourcing vendor apply. The most important rule: experience in disaster recovery. An experienced vendor knows how to stay calm and react appropriately in times of crisis.

Additional factors to consider are capacity, site location and adaptability. In many circumstances, any event that causes a disaster at your firm will create problems for other firms in the area as well. These events could be weather-related, natural disasters such as earthquakes or terrorist attacks. As such, your disaster recovery provider may be responding to several requests at the same time. It's important to verify it will be able to handle these multiple requests simultaneously.

The location of your provider's facility is also important. You need to evaluate if it may be impacted by the same events causing an emergency at your firm. Also, the company should have multiple locations to provide additional backup if its primary facility experiences a crisis, and it should have additional capacity in the event of a widespread disaster.

Adaptability is a key component. Most good companies are continuously improving their document processes with new technology and equipment. It's important that your disaster recovery provider is able to keep pace with those changes. Review the vendor's plans for software and machine upgrades in the near future, and discuss any long-range plans.

No disaster recovery strategy is complete without regular testing. You must verify that all the components will work as planned in the event of an emergency. It's important to test all the phases, from print preparation through printing and post-processing. Three scenarios that you should examine:

Total disaster the absolute worst case, when your IT and document processing systems are completely inaccessible. Confirm your entire disaster recovery system works and that all the vendors can communicate with each other and transfer information in a timely and secure manner. Measure response, processing and delivery times.

Partial disaster when some part of your operation is not available. Evaluate how well people can prioritize the remaining work, and decide what should be transferred to your disaster recover provider. Again, measure results.

Capacity quandary what happens if you're suddenly hit with more work than your operation can handle? Make sure your disaster recovery provider is ready to step in and pick up this additional work.

Most of your testing should be scheduled with all parties being given due notice to plan appropriately. You must not want to create a real emergency by running a test that conflicts with other priorities. However, you should have the right to declare a "mock disaster" as part of your vendor contract, allowing you to test the disaster recovery provider with no prior notice and measure how it performs. Testing like this, even once, will reveal a lot about what can happen and how you can prepare for it.

No matter what type of testing you choose, always conduct an "after action" review. Bring together everyone who participated in the exercise. Review not only the facts of what occurred, but gather the opinions of those involved. Create a consensus on what could be done better, and publish the findings as a report. This report will become the baseline for measuring the success of future tests.

Outsourcing Strategy

Outsourcing is neither the silver bullet depicted by some vendors and consultants nor the evil instrument feared by many operations managers. It's a strategic tool for enhancing performance that should be considered by all companies. As with any strategy, it should be reviewed on a regular basis for consistency with the organization's mission, shifts in technology and vendor performance.

If deployed properly, outsourcing will provide cost savings, increased capacity and access to technology and expertise. Outsource providers are able to capitalize on economies of scale, resulting in lower operating costs. By relegating some functions to a vendor, a company can use its current resources to develop significant growth in its core business. And because those functions are the vendors' core business, outsource providers are often able to invest more in new technologies and skilled employees.

Define the Scope

Outsourcing doesn't necessarily encompass all parts of an operation; it may be limited to a single aspect, for example, presorting. You must determine which activities (especially those important to customers) your organization can perform more efficiently than anyone else. You must evaluate the strategic value of each process in relation to the customer. Next, you should compare the efficiencies and capabilities of the process providers.

If a process is critical to the customer relationship and if the in-house staff performs that function uniquely, that activity should be kept in-house. But if the process has no strategic value or if the internal organization has no special capabilities, then consider outsourcing. After a process or activity has been designated as a candidate for outsourcing, the next step is vendor selection. Key factors to consider in vendor selection are: