Business Continuity Planning for Telstra Corporation Limited

Assessment 3
Template

Student Name
Student Number

Business name	Telstra Corporation Limited
Industry name	Telecommunications, Technology, Connectivity
Business Background	Australia's largest telecom
Industry Background	Critical communication infrastructure

Introduction

This report covers the advancement in technology, there are a lot of risks that hinder the smooth running of operations as well as the delivery of services to consumers in today’s fast-growing telecommunications industry such as risks faced by Telstra Corporation Limited. Telstra was founded in 1975 and has since become Australia’s largest Telecommunications and Technology Company; offering convergence and communication networks that are crucial for business and clients. It has products that range from mobile networks, broadband, digital TV, cloud, cyber security, and IoT solutions. Due to the escalating toughness of risks, ranging from the occurrence of physical hazards, such as bushfires and floods, to cyber risk and system unavailability, business continuity management (BCM) has become a significant consideration for Telstra. As mentioned earlier, BCP has four essential phases they include; As, Prepare, Response, and Recovery; which the organization needs to ensure that it remains operational in the event of these disruptions. By increasing its readiness of these pillars, Telstra is well prepared to protect its operations and maintain its credibility and trust from stakeholders in an industry that is most important in modern society.

Part 1 – Business Risk Register

Risk Name	Risk Description	Likelihood	Impact	Priority	Mitigation Measure
Cybersecurity Threats	Cyber-attacks (e.g., ransomware, DDoS, data breach) causing system outages and data loss (Bhadouria 2022, p.2).	High	Service disruption, data theft	High	Implement advanced cybersecurity defenses, real-time monitoring
Natural Disasters	Bushfires, floods, or cyclones damaging physical infrastructure like data centers	Medium	Infrastructure damage, outages	High	Use redundant systems, disaster recovery planning
System Failures	Internal software or hardware failures causing network service disruption (Zúñiga et al. 2020, p.11).	Medium	Nationwide service outages	High	Regular maintenance, failover systems, and backups
Supplier Disruptions	Failure of hardware or software vendors impacting service delivery	Low	Service delay, reduced functionality	Medium	Establish SLAs, diversify suppliers, and vendor monitoring
Regulatory Compliance	Non-compliance with privacy or telecom regulations leading to fines and legal action	Low	Financial loss, reputational damage	Medium	Regular compliance audits, legal consultation
Reputational Damage	Negative media coverage due to major outages or breaches	Medium	Customer churn, revenue loss	Medium	Proactive customer communication, media management

Part 2 – Business Impact Analysis

Critical Business Activity	Description	Maximum Amount of Time Business Activity Remains Unavailable	Activity Depends on External Services/Products	Impact of Loss	RTO (Recovery Time Objective)
Mobile and Broadband Network Services	Core activity providing mobile and broadband services to customers.	24 hours	Hardware suppliers, network equipment providers, power utilities	Financial loss from service disruption, customer churn, reputational damage, staffing costs for crisis management (Adim & Emumena 2020, p.2)	12 hours
Data Center Operations	Manages cloud services, data storage, and business solutions for enterprises.	48 hours	Power supply, hardware vendors, cloud service partners	Significant financial loss, reputational damage, legal liability for not meeting SLAs, additional staff costs to restore services	24 hours
Customer Support Services	Handles customer inquiries, technical support, and issue resolution.	72 hours	Call center infrastructure, telecommunications systems, workforce availability	Customer dissatisfaction, loss of reputation, financial impact due to customer churn, increased staffing costs to handle backlog	48 hours
Cybersecurity Operations	Monitors and defends against cyber threats including data breaches and vulnerabilities.	Immediate	Threat intelligence services, security tools	Catastrophic financial loss from data breaches, penalties, reputational damage, increased staffing costs for incident response (Phillips & Tanner 2019, p.4).	6 hours

Part 3 – Incident Response Plan

Incident Type	Actions Required to Eradicate/Resolve the Incident	Resources Required to Resolve the Incident	Who is Responsible for Remediation Actions	Systems/Services to Be Prioritised	Systems/Services Affected During the Remediation Process and How
Cybersecurity Breach	- Isolate affected systems - Analyze breach source - Apply security patches - Restore data from backups - Ensure system integrity	- Cybersecurity tools - IT support team - External security consultants	- Cybersecurity team - IT department	- Customer data systems - Critical servers	- Customer-facing services may be temporarily unavailable - Reduced system performance due to isolation and patching (Asghar et al. 2019, p.5)
Data Center Failure	- Activate failover protocols - Diagnose the root cause - Repair or replace hardware - Restore operations	- Backup power systems - Hardware vendors - IT infrastructure team	- IT infrastructure team - External vendors	- Core data center services - Cloud platforms	- Backup services will run at a limited capacity - Temporary data access delays for some customers (Lin et al. 2020, p.5)
Network Outage	- Diagnose issue - Reroute network traffic - Collaborate with vendors for repairs - Implement long-term fixes	- Network monitoring tools - IT team - External network vendors	- Network operations team - External network vendors	- High-priority customer network services	- Service interruptions for non-priority users - Reduced network capacity until full restoration
Customer Support System Outage	- Activate backup communication channels (Damanik 2020, p.2) - Reallocate support staff - Restore infrastructure - Monitor issues closely post-restoration	- IT team - Backup communication tools - Additional staff resources	- IT support team - Customer support management	- Customer communication systems	- Delays in customer response times - Slower issue resolution due to reliance on alternative channels (email or social media)

Part 4 – Recovery Plan

Critical Business Activities	Preventative/Recovery Actions	Resource Requirements/Outcomes	Recovery Time Objective (RTO)	Responsibility
Customer Data Management	- Implement strong access controls - Regular data backups - Restore from clean backups after a breach	- Backup systems - Cybersecurity tools	48 hours after the incident	IT Manager
IT Infrastructure Operations	- Regular maintenance of servers - Quick activation of backup systems - Replace faulty hardware quickly	- Backup power systems - Hardware vendors	24 hours after failure	IT Operations Team Lead
Network Services	- Monitor network traffic continuously - Have redundancy in place for critical paths - Perform rapid diagnostics	- Network monitoring tools - Spare network hardware	12 hours after outage	Network Operations Manager
Customer Support Services	- Train staff on emergency protocols - Activate backup communication methods - Hire temporary staff if necessary	- Backup communication tools - Temporary staffing resources	72 hours after system outage	Customer Support Manager

Part Five – Reflection on Business Continuity Planning

BCP is an important factor that needs to be put into consideration by any organization to be able to continue running its operations during and after a disruptive event. The four stages or principles of BCP include the assessment of risks, planning for disaster or a crisis, the intervention and management stage, and the lastly the recovery stage. In this reflection, the four pillars that have been discussed concerning disaster will be applied to a pretend company in the Information Technology sector to assess how it can improve its preparedness in each of the mentioned pillars.

1. Assessment

Recommendation: Conduct Regular Risk Assessments

Explanation: There is a need for Telstra to develop a procedure for performing risk evaluation at certain intervals to independently identify internal and external threats. This would also involve the method of threat scopes, where one would outline possible existing cybersecurity threats, analyze physical infrastructure concerns (such as hurricanes or tsunamis), and measure supply chain coupling. Instead, using risk analyses at least once a year or when changes are made in the operations of the company, it can find and focus on those risks that are most dangerous to deal with (Cantelmi 2023, p.10).

2. Preparedness

Recommendation: Develop Comprehensive Training Programs

Explanation: To improve readiness Telstra can develop extensive employee education programs including general staff, management, and IT, to become familiar with incident response plans, DR plans, and cyber security threats. Schaumburg and some other staff declared that exercising and frequently practicing can make the staff quite familiar with any disruption and they will be in the position to act accordingly. This training makes the organizational culture to be that of preparedness and also prepares employees to handle negative events appropriately (John-Eke & Eke 2020, p.6).

3. Response

Recommendation: Establish a Centralized Incident Management System

Explanation: Telstra should ensure a properly developed information system that would help organize work during incidents and be a fail-safe communication tool. It also means that this system can give real-time information, promote cross-functionality from department to department, and allow a fast decision-making process. The response team armed with this kind of technology can well respond to such matters, and allow the company to contain such disruptions in services and address these as quickly as possible (Kim et al. 2021, p.12).

4. Recovery

Recommendation: Create a Robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

Explanation: Telstra should prepare and maintain an elaborate Business Continuity Plan to explain the restored services’ procedures in case of an incident. This plan should contain measures for orderly recovery in the event of failure of key operations, resources that will be required for the recovery operations, and other associated operations in the case of critical operations (Billingsley 2022, p.2). Mini manuals and checklists have their roles in the BCP and the identified regular testing of the BCP through tabletop and simulations will assist in confirming the soundness of the recovery strategies to integrate the employees effectively in the recovery processes.

The four concepts of assessment, preparedness, response, and recovery are core to business continuity planning in the event of disruptive incidents. Through risk assessments, creation and optimization of BCP documentation, the formation of the crisis management team, and the practical establishment of a structured plan of recovery, the company can easily establish itself on these pillars.

Trust is built when programs are invested in such areas because the organization is not only improving its ability to withstand shocks but also conveying assurance to those who depend on it for goods and services, customers, and employees alike. When planning, formulation, implementation, and evaluation of BCP strategies, an organization can be able to manage challenges, hence protecting its operations and reputation. By implementing the above recommendations the company becomes ready to manage any disruptions that may occur in the future path it is charting.

Conclusion

Telstra Corporation Limited is one of the leading telecom players in Australia, in a context where fast response to disruptions is vital for sustainable success. Telecommunications are not only essential to most people and businesses in their basic need to communicate but also form a critical part of other industries such as finance and healthcare and media and entertainment. Consequently, the impact that can stem from outages of service is not only vast, but it touches on the company at large, on its customers, and indeed on the overall functionality of several services in the country. Through the risk assessment techniques, it would be easier for Telstra to evaluate potential risks, and expend appropriate resources in covering these risks. Creating sound training sessions will guarantee that employees are ready and prepared for any occurrences to happen within the organization. This proposal is to develop an IM Structure, which means a unified integrated system for better communications and authorities’ collaboration, and quicker decision-making in cases of incidents. It will also allow to development of a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan which will contain specific guidelines on how to restore the services in question and resume the functioning of affected business lines as fast as possible.