Business Continuity Policy

This is Ribbon’s Business Continuity Policy 990-77001 to ensure that all business activities can be kept at normal or near-normal performance following an incident that has the potential to cause a major disruption business activities. For example, Extreme Weather Events, Cyber Attacks, Infrastructure Outage, Loss of Power, Loss of a Facility or Premises.

Review Period

The Policy Owner will ensure a review of this process is conducted annually at a minimum, or when significant business process changes occur, to ensure the information contained herein is current and applicable.

Policy

Ribbon uses a Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) to ensure regular maintenance of the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Plans (DRPs). In addition, the BCMS details how regular drills, activations and an annual management leadership review will be performed and documented.  

Each Business Unit in Ribbon is responsible for preparing current and comprehensive content for the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for its operations. Certain departments, such as Real Estate, Information Technology and Lab Operations are also responsible for Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP) to ensure that any damage or disruptions to critical assets can be quickly minimized and that these assets can be restored to normal or near-normal operation as quickly as possible. 

When a plan, (DRP or BCP), is completed, approved and implemented, each plan will include procedures and support agreements which ensure on-time availability and delivery of required products and services. Each plan must be reviewed and certified annually following the BCMS through the Business Continuity Team (BC Team).

Ribbon acknowledges that it will use the ISO 22301:2012, as the guidance and structure for its Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) and the ISO/IEC 27031:2011 standard for all Information and Communications Technology (ICT) disaster recovery activities may also be used.

Ribbon recognizes the importance of an active and fully supported BCMS to ensure the safety, health and continued availability of employment of its employees and the production and delivery of quality goods and services for customers and other stakeholders. Ribbon requires the commitment of each employee, Business Unit and vendor in support of the activities required to protect Company assets, mission and operations.

Policy Leadership

The EVP of Corporate Operations is designated as the Management Team Liaison responsible for this program and management system. Resolution of issues in the development of, or support of, all plans and associated activities should first be coordinated with the Business Continuity Team (BC Team), and appropriate internal or external organizations before submitting to the Management Team Liaison. 

Verification of Policy Conformance

BC Policy conformance verification is managed through the BCMS by the BC Team with support from other relevant internal departments. Each Business Unit must define appropriate procedures, staffing, tools and workplace planning activities necessary to meet compliance requirements. Plan templates have been developed to facilitate the plan development process, and these templates shall be used for all plans.

Conformance to the policy is verified annually and is facilitated by the BC Team.

Corrective Action Plan

In situations where a Business Unit does not conform to this policy, the BC Team will prepare a report stating the case for non-compliance and present it to the Management Team Liaison for mediation and resolution using the CAR database to track all corrective actions.

Implementation

This Policy shall be implemented through the application of Ribbon Quality Management System (QMS), to drive continual improvement.