Transforming business continuity at enterprise scale with Everbridge BC in the Cloud platform 

Energy Transfer, a Fortune 53 oil and gas company, is a leader in the energy sector with a workforce of 13,500 employees. Over its 25-year history, the company has evolved from a pipeline operator to a diversified energy powerhouse, acquiring 4-5 companies annually and expanding into refineries, manufacturing, and terminal operations. With critical infrastructure spanning intrastate and interstate pipelines, Energy Transfer’s operations demand robust business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. 

Challenges 

Energy Transfer’s Business Continuity Planning (BCP) team, led by a lean two-person department, faced mounting challenges as the company scaled its operations: 

• Manual processes: Legacy tools like Resilience 1, Excel, and SharePoint required extensive manual effort to track critical applications, runbooks, and exercises. This approach was inefficient and unsustainable for large-scale exercises involving 400+ participants. 
• Data migration risks: Transitioning from Resilience 1 to a new platform posed concerns about data integrity and the labor-intensive process of manually inputting critical information. 
• Customization needs: The team required a highly flexible solution to manage 180 critical departments, 101 critical applications, and numerous runbooks, while also accommodating the unique demands of IT Disaster Recovery (ITDR). 
• Training and adoption: With over 400 stakeholders across IT and critical departments, onboarding users to a new platform presented a significant hurdle. 

Solutions 

Energy Transfer selected BC in the Cloud from Everbridge for its ability to deliver a highly customizable and scalable solution tailored to their unique needs. The platform’s robust capabilities addressed the company’s challenges head-on: 

• Automation: BC in the Cloud automated key processes, including task assignments, email reminders, and tracking updates, significantly reducing manual workloads. 
• Customizability: The platform was configured to support Energy Transfer’s specific requirements, such as storing records for all applications, attaching runbooks, and running Business Impact Analyses (BIAs). 
• Scalability: BC in the Cloud seamlessly scaled to accommodate the company’s rapid growth, including the integration of new critical departments and applications from acquired businesses. 
• User-friendly design: The intuitive interface and self-learning tools enabled new team members to quickly adapt and contribute, reducing the burden on the core BCP team. 

Implementation 

Despite initial concerns about the complexity of implementation, the process was smooth and well-supported by the BC in the Cloud team. Key highlights included: 

• Collaborative support: BC in the Cloud’s implementation specialists provided hands-on guidance, ensuring a seamless transition and addressing customization requests in real time. 
• Data integrity: The team successfully migrated critical data from Resilience 1, minimizing disruptions and ensuring continuity. 
• Training and onboarding: A comprehensive internal training program equipped 400+ users with the knowledge to effectively utilize BC in the Cloud, fostering widespread adoption. 

Looking ahead 

Over the next year, Energy Transfer plans to deepen its use of BC in the Cloud by: 

• Enhancing automation: Integrating BC in the Cloud with ServiceNow to automate the onboarding of new critical applications and streamline workflows. 
• • Continuous improvement: Leveraging post-exercise feedback to identify and implement enhancements, ensuring the platform evolves with the company’s needs. 
• • Scaling up: Supporting the integration of new departments and applications as the company continues to acquire businesses. 

Conclusion 

Energy Transfer’s partnership with BC in the Cloud from Everbridge has enabled the company to achieve operational excellence and resilience in a rapidly evolving industry. By automating processes, enhancing scalability, and supporting continuous improvement, BC in the Cloud has become an indispensable tool for Energy Transfer’s business continuity operations.