Goodwood is committed to protecting the interests of Goodwood’s clients, and employees in the event of a natural disaster or significant business disruption. This policy addresses Goodwood’s efforts to mitigate risks associated with unforeseen business interruptions. The Company’s goal is to meet existing obligations to clients, even in the event of an emergency or significant business disruption, as quickly as possible given the scope and severity of the disruption.
Although Goodwood operates out of a single primary facility, many of its employees work remotely in different areas of the country. Goodwood has established a number of processes that assure all critical operations can be restored quickly using back up or redundant systems and facilities.
Significant business disruptions can vary in their scope, such as affecting only the office location, Baton Rouge or the entire region. Within each of these areas the severity of the disruption can also vary from minimal to severe. In a disruption to only the office location, Goodwood will transfer operations to a local site, which Goodwood’s law firm has volunteered. In a disruption affecting Goodwood’s business district, city or region, Goodwood will transfer Goodwood’s operations to a site available outside the affected area and recover and resume business. Long Law Firm, LLP has offered space in Baton Rouge and Washington, DC on a short term basis. In any of these situations Goodwood’s intent is to safeguard Goodwood’s client’s data and assets and to restore critical operations as quickly as possible including access to internet for phone and email communication. Copies of critical written materials are stored on Google Workspaces as well.
Communication is the key to mitigate confusion that can be caused by a business disruption, for Goodwood’s employees, customers, and vendors. Goodwood will use multiple methods of communications, with the assumption that one or more method may be entirely unavailable for some time after a natural or other catastrophic disaster. The firm will utilize multiple strategies to communicate with its stakeholders throughout the disruption including:
Goodwood utilizes Google Workspaces for electronic storage of documents, which are accessible from any computer or smart phone with an internet connection. All devices are password protected, as in the Google Workspaces account itself.
All of the software and systems utilized by Goodwood on a day-to-day basis are either “cloud-based” or software installed on multiple computers than can be used with any internet connection. As a result, Goodwood’s employees can operate from any location with internet service.
Goodwood’s Business Continuity Plans will be tested periodically to ensure readiness. Goodwood’s recovery time objectives, used when performing tests of Goodwood’s business continuity plan, are not hard and fast deadlines that are to be met in every situation as various external factors surrounding the disruption, such as time of day, scope of disruption and status of critical infrastructure can affect actual recovery times. It is expected that as the nature and scope of Goodwood’s business expands, this business continuity plan will be amended to reflect additional needs.