Disaster Recovery as a Subset of a Business Continuation Plan

Franklin Lakes resident Taylor Hallman has worked at Prudential Financial based in Newark, New Jersey since 2012. As a business continuation associate, Taylor Hallman assists businesses within the Newark and Franklin Lakes area with devising strategies to remain open in case an event disrupts their businesses.

Disaster recovery plays a huge role in a business continuation plan. While the two are used interchangeably, disaster recovery is a subset of a continuation plan, which has a wider scope.

Disaster recovery refers to the processes a business uses to get back up and running during the event of a disruptive event. These disasters can be anywhere from IT and hardware issues to security breaches. The disaster recovery plan focuses on getting a business operational during the event.

Disaster recovery exists under the business continuation plan, which happens before the event. This continuation plan focuses on business processes, deciding what business functions are vital and benefits versus costs, in addition to disaster discovery.

Ultimately, the key difference between the two is timing. A business continuation plan is drafted long before an event and provides specific instructions for carrying out protocols to ensure the business is operational during the disruption. Alternatively, disaster recovery happens during an event, and it is the immediate response to a catastrophic event, which entails restoring machinery, technology, and other parts of the business are functional.

The Theta Chi Recruitment Process

A business continuation associate based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Taylor Hallman works for Prudential Financial. In this position, he handles all of the planning and preparation necessary for minimizing business loss in the event of an incident. Active in his community, Taylor Hallman of Franklin Lakes belongs to the Theta Chi fraternity.

Since 1856, Theta Chi has been developing programs to help college-age men become models of male behavior. Since the fraternity attracts men with values that align with its goals and mission, the organization maintains an ongoing recruitment period. This is different from the one- or two-week formal recruitment period of many fraternities.

When men join Theta Chi, they must complete an eight-week pledging period that teaches them the traditions, history, and ideals of the fraternity. During this time, pledges are given opportunities to meet chapter alumni, current members, and other new members and are encouraged to strive for academic excellence and campus leadership.

Breitling’s Superocean Heritage '57 Supports Frontline Workers

A Prudential Financial associate based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Taylor Hallman has a longstanding interest in watches. Active attending horology events in the Franklin Lakes area, Taylor Hallman stays current on the latest trends in timepieces. One of the most noted issues of 2020 has been Breitling’s Superocean Heritage '57 Limited Edition II in support of frontline healthcare workers.

This timely release follows soon after the Superocean Heritage '57 Capsule Collection, which was announced through digital summit, due to the impact of COVID-19. Priced in the $4,500 to $5,000 range, the original Superocean '57 Limited Edition featured a black dial. It was accompanied by a 250-watch Superocean Heritage '57 Limited Edition that nodded to mid 20th century style while offering the “pop vibrance” of brightly colored dials.

Only a month later, the same design was expanded to a 1,000 watch edition, with a portion of proceeds from each sale going to frontline health care workers in countries most impacted by the pandemic. A total of $500,000 has been earmarked to be divided evenly between a half dozen organizations worldwide, including Direct Relief in the United States.

Ancient Methods for Keeping Time

A Franklin Lakes resident, Taylor Hallman’s profession involves assisting clients with preparing business continuation plans in case their businesses are closed because of some event. While at home in Franklin Lakes, Taylor Hallman enjoys studying time and how timepieces are made.

Horology, or the study or time and making clocks, has its origins in ancient Sumeria, where it is believed time tracking began, but the first actual record was in ancient Egypt. Today's digitized timepieces that track time to the nanosecond are a major evolution to ancient timepieces that are great records of history but are very antiquated in their function.

Historians mark 1450 BC as the first time that Egyptians used the Earth’s natural circadian rhythms to denote time. The Egyptians used this method to devise a day that would be divided into two 12-hour intervals.

Egyptians contributed significantly to the field of horology. Egyptians invented water clocks used in the Precinct of Amen-Re, which the Ancient Greeks then later adopted. The Egyptians also created the sundial, also known as shadow clocks. These clocks divided time into two ten-hour intervals and two twilight hours.

The entire world, at some point, devised some method for keeping track of time. Ancient civilizations in China, Japan, and England used candle pieces to denote time. India and Tibet used the hourglass and the time stick. Finally, Mayan civilizations used large stone constructions and pyramids to track the equinox and solstice.

The Pros and Cons of Three Tennis Serves

Based in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Taylor Hallman has spent nearly eight years as a business continuation associate with Newark’s Prudential Financial. Taylor Hallman achieved his business continuation certification in 2015. An avid tennis player and former country club instructor, the Franklin Lakes native is an active member of the NYC Tennis League.

The nature of the tennis scoring system means players must hold their serves to win a set. If a player’s serve is not broken, they cannot lose the match. When it comes to diversifying serving strategy, players should review the common types of tennis serves, evaluating both their strengths and deficiencies.

For power players with big serves, the flat serve represents an important weapon. These serves are delivered with as little spin as possible, resulting in a relatively flat trajectory at high speed. Placed correctly, a well struck flat serve is often impossible to return. Of course, the speed and lack of spin makes a flat serve a much riskier prospect than other serves, with serves potentially going long, wide, or into the net.

Slice serves are a safer strategy, while the lack of speed along with considerable spin can still be used to offensive ends: when a right-handed player serves to the deuce court, or a left-handed player serves to the ad court, slice serves swing wide and pull the returner off the court. This opens the entire court for servers to hit a likely winner. Of course, a poorly placed or predictable slice serve is essentially a sitting duck for a competent returner.

Finally, the kick serve represents an effective blend of flat and slice serves. Unlike the flat serve, kick serves make use of large amounts of top spin, giving the serve greater margin for error. That said, these serves maintain more pace than slice serves and can also “jump” high off the court, making it difficult to return the ball. Like the slice serve, however, the kick serve is best utilized as a surprise tactic.

Why Business Impact Analysis is Important

A certified business continuity professional from Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Taylor Hallman has served as a business continuation associate at Prudential Financial since 2012. One of Taylor Hallman’s responsibilities includes performing business impact analysis (BIA).

A business process, BIA involves identifying business functions and predicting the consequences if one of those functions is disrupted. BIA allows for the collection of the needed information to develop recovery strategies that would minimize potential losses. Some of the most common causes of disruption include failure or delay of suppliers in delivering supplies, delay in delivery of purchased services, utility failures, labor disputes, cyber-attacks, and natural or man-made disasters.

Analyses surrounding BIA includes operational and financial impacts of disruptions in business functions and processes. These impacts include delayed sales or income, lost sales or income, increased expenses, contractual penalties including loss of contractual bonus, regulatory fines, customer dissatisfaction, and delay of new business plans.

BIA is important to businesses because it leads to thorough planning to minimize risks. It also allows businesses to execute due diligence. While risks are inherent to businesses, BIA helps the business to survive in the eventual occurrence of unforeseen disruptions.

Earning CBCP Certification from DRI International

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A Franklin Lakes, New Jersey resident, Taylor Hallman serves as a business continuation associate at Prudential Financial, where he is responsible for ensuring business continuity in an event of a disaster. A graduate of Washington College, Taylor Hallman of Franklin Lakes supplements his hands-on experience and formal education with a DRI International certification in business continuity.

Since 1988, DRI International has provided accreditation, education, and leadership services to professionals working in the business sector. To this end, the organization offers a wide range of certifications to individuals at all levels of their career, including the Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) designation.

The CBCP certification is available to professionals who have at least two years of significant experience in business continuity and disaster recovery areas within their organizations. This experience must include familiarity with risk assessment, crisis communications, and other relevant subject areas related to business continuity management as laid out in the Professional Practices for Business Continuity Management.

As long as professionals meet the initial requirements, they are allowed to sit for the certification’s qualifying exam. To pass, professionals must score at least 75 percent on this exam, thus allowing them to complete an application for professional certification and submit application essays about their responsibilities and accomplishments in the field. At least two references per subject area must also be submitted alongside the application to validate each professional’s experience in the field.