Ryman Healthcare

Quake stops access to office, but Ryman works 100%

With their premises inaccessible due to the September 2010 Christchurch earthquake, Ryman Healthcare's entire head office relocated to Plan-b OfficeNOW facilities… and continued working seamlessly.

"We didn't miss one payroll to staff, we didn't miss one payment to suppliers and we kept up to date with everything." - Gordon MacLeod, CFO, Ryman Healthcare

Introducing Ryman

Ryman Healthcare is one of New Zealand's leading providers of retirement living options for people over the age of 70.

Established in Christchurch in 1984, Ryman has expanded to a nationwide operation with 22 retirement villages from Whangarei to Invercargill, providing homes for over 5,000 residents and employing over 2,500 staff.

   Ryman has won the Australasian Aged Care Awards for "Best Retirement Village in New Zealand" six times.

Why they chose Plan-b

While disaster recovery covers a range of events, the possible loss of access to their office was something Ryman had considered in their business continuity planning, says CFO Gordon MacLeod.

"Working in a 17-storey building, we were conscious of the possibility that at some point we could be denied access. While others talk only of IT backup, Plan-b's business continuity offer is far more comprehensive. Plan-b's offer of standby offices was of particular appeal to us, also because it's cost effective. I was very impressed with what I saw."

Disaster strikes!

On Saturday 4 September 2010, a major earthquake struck Christchurch, rendering Ryman's inner city office inaccessible. The area went into lockdown and the expectation was that it would take engineers days to check all the buildings for safety. Throughout this period, Ryman had only limited, escorted access to their office.

"During the weekend, we activated Plan-b server recovery in case we needed it. Servers were set up for us in Auckland and we started sending backup tapes there every day for two weeks after the quake, while we were still getting regular aftershocks. In the end, we never actually used these backups, but we decided to play it safe."

Attempted solution: Using other company premises

Initially, Ryman had hoped to get back into their office very soon. So they made a plan for the meantime.

"We have five retirement villages in Christchurch, all with community centres. We used text messaging to let staff know to turn up to the Ngaio Marsh Retirement Village on the Monday. Because the facility is linked to our head office server, the idea was that we could work from over there using laptops," says Gordon.

"It wasn't really an environment where we wanted to work on an ongoing basis. Sharing with our residents is not a long-term option and we were looking forward to getting back to our regular office."

The solution: Go to Plan-b

The final straw came on the Wednesday morning, when a significant aftershock struck. It was clear their office may not be available for a good while longer. Gordon immediately phoned Plan-b and asked to take 50 work stations at the Plan-b OfficeNOW facility.

Within two hours of arriving, Ryman's complete head office was back up and running.

"Our staff is used to working in an integrated way and it's important that we work in a shared environment," says Gordon. "It was great to all work together in a proper office environment again. It brought the team back together and people settled in. Suddenly there was no immediate rush to get back to our regular office."

This was just as well, as it took time for everyone to figure out what was going to happen in the Christchurch CBD. Police were still cordoning off areas and building integrity was being tested.

   Ryman operated from the Plan-b OfficeNOW facilities in Christchurch for just over a week, moving back into their regular office on 14 September.

Business impact

Without Plan-b, Ryman would've had to continue working from the retirement village. "We don't have laptops for everyone, so people would've had to share. Quite quickly, we would've found it difficult to work," says Gordon.

With Plan-b's facilities and support from Plan-b staff, the Ryman team put in a great effort and was able to maintain productivity.

"We didn't miss one payroll to staff, we didn't miss one payment to suppliers and we kept up to date with everything. We even managed to get our normal set of board papers out the door on time on the Friday!"

Lessons learned

The experience has certainly been instructive, says Gordon. "If we had to go through it again, I would try to access the Plan-b facility straightaway. We'd want to replicate environment in our normal office as much as possible, so we can function in normal way as soon as possible."

As a result of the event, Ryman is considering moving its servers to a specialist offsite location. "We are also in discussions with Plan-b to use their online backup in future."

"While others talk only of IT backup, Plan-b's business continuity offer is far more comprehensive. Plan-b's offer of standby offices was of particular appeal to us, also because it's cost effective." - Gordon MacLeod, CFO, Ryman Healthcare.

About Plan-b

Plan-b is New Zealand’s largest dedicated business continuity organisation. We offer a full suite of solutions to manage your backup & data protection offsite; standby facilities to get you up and running; and assurance services to fully test & prove your recovery plans. Our offices in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch provide contingency services to more than 600 organisations. Since being founded in the 1990s, Plan-b has continued to focus on protecting businesses from unplanned events, and getting our customer’s back up and running quickly in a crisis.