Mainebiz

O N T H E R E C O R D W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 33 M A R C H 1 9 , 2 0 1 8 1/4 H Vistage Helps CEOs Grow Their Business. Learn more about our Vistage group in Southern Maine, call 207.869.5491 or visit vistage.com/portlandme. ©Vistage Worldwide, Inc. 18_221_5111 George Casey For these trailblazers, the sky is the limit. That's an ethos we celebrate—and empower. Vistage is the world's foremost executive coaching and business advisory organization, exclusively for top business leaders. Envision: the most comprehensive services. Leading-edge resources. A global network of more than 21,000 peers. That's just scratching the surface of how Vistage members work through challenges and seize opportunities. Find out how we've earned our track record of helping member companies surpass their competition 2.2x faster. B Y M A U R E E N M I L L I K E N P atrick Dunn lives in Augusta with his wife, Lucie, and their two dogs. He recently sat down with Mainebiz. Mainebiz: What's a business 'disaster,' and how do you position businesses to recover? Patrick Dunn : A disaster in business is any event in which a business suff ers an unexpected interruption to normal operations for a signifi cant period of time. How 'signifi cant period of time' is defi ned depends on the business. For example, a bank may suff er an inter- ruption, and because they are regu- lated, the signifi cant business inter- ruption may be minutes. A small retail operation may experience an [internet] outage for several hours or a day with no signifi cant impact to their operations. Cushnoc Resiliency positions a company to recover by helping them prepare for 'what ifs' from a technology, people and process perspective, which allows to plan for and test scenarios for the interruption. MB: You recently moved back to central Maine after living around the country, including the Atlanta area. Do disaster recovery needs in Maine differ from the rest of the country? PD: e common thread with all regions of the country is technology. All companies, regardless of location, need to be prepared for technology or infrastructure outages. e diff erences between the regions of country are weather events. Whereas in the south the chief weather concern is tornadoes, here in Maine it's fl ooding, wind and other winter weather events. From a weather perspective, Maine is fortunate not to have the severe tornadoes that exist in other regions. MB: What's the No. 1 concern for most Maine businesses that you talk to? PD: e No. 1 concern for most of the businesses I talk to from a [business continuity and disaster recovery] per- spective is cyber terrorism, followed closely by supply chain, vendor and technical infrastructure concerns. MB: What should the No. 1 concern be? PD: It depends on your business model. Generally speaking though, businesses should be concerned about their technical infrastructure availabil- ity and supply chain points of failure. e reality is that any business should be concerned about any interruption that causes a loss of signifi cant revenue or results in a fi ne or penalty. MB: What's the biggest mistaken assumption businesses have about their ability to weather a disaster? PD: Without a doubt the worst assumption is that the key people will be available at the time of disaster to execute the recovery plan and initiate recovery. ose key people are the ones most likely to be unavailable, which is why it's important to have a docu- mented and current DR/BC plan. MB: If there's only one thing a business does to prepare for disaster, what should it be? PD: Write down your key suppliers- vendors and their contact information and create a checklist of things to do when a what-if event happens. And keep it at home in a secure place (like a fi re or security box) other than your business location. MB: How did you get involved in disaster recovery? PD: I started in disaster recovery before it was called disaster recovery. I started off as systems administrator at Wellington Management Co. in Boston, and was responsible for backup and recovery as part of my job. I was respon- sible for hundreds of systems, so in order to keep track of everything I had to doc- ument the procedures. ese were the fi rst true disaster recovery plans, back in the early 10s. In truth though, if I look back at my fi rst career as a ranger for the National Park Service, we were required to have evacuation plans in place for the parks and had to have the ability to continue operations in the event of any major weather event. So that was prob- ably my fi rst taste of disaster planning without realizing it at the time. P H O T O / F R E D J. F I E L D Patrick R. Dunn, president and director of consulting at Cushnoc Resiliency Advisors in Augusta, says every business needs a disaster plan. Patrick R. Dunn, a Gardiner native, recently returned to Maine and is president of Cushnoc Resiliency Advisors in Augusta, which helps position businesses for disaster recovery — anything from a cyberattack to a flooded basement.

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