Certain events may occur which impact the way our company does business. When such an event has an effect that could potentially cause delays or influence our normal course of business, we refer to it as a "significant business disruption" ("SBD"). Our goal is to assure our continuing operation and ability to provide our customers with complete and uninterrupted access to their funds and securities. We will immediately assess each SBD and execute an appropriate plan designed to minimize the effect on our customers. Obviously such events are unpredictable, however, we have thoroughly reviewed every aspect of our current business including our physical and virtual locations, hardware, software, reliance on utilities, telephone, and internet service providers, as well as additional services provided for our web site design, development, and maintenance and other trading platforms available to our customers.
The impact of each SBD will be assessed immediately by the senior management of Smart PortfoliosTM, LLC taking into account all factors which may influence our ability or the ability of other parties upon whom we rely to continue operations. An SBD may include anything from a local power outage within our building to a more regional disruption caused by severe weather or something on a much broader scale such as a terrorist attack which has the potential to disrupt national markets.
More important than whether or not to continue operations will be to what degree we will be able to perform. Our responsibilities to our customers come first and foremost and unless a SBD is of such catastrophic proportions that prohibit reasonable market activities we will strive to work with our clearing firm and other business constituents to provide you with continued access to those markets. Please be aware that although operational, such services may not match the full capabilities normally provided; however we will consider all factors, including the size and capability of our staff, when determining which level of service to provide.
Proprietary information contained on our systems is backed up daily to both tape media and a geographically distant server. We have considered these factors in conjunction with the Business Continuity Plans of our major business constituents including our clearing firm in order to minimize the time you may be away from the market.
A worst case scenario involving a SBD of major proportions could cause us to cease operations altogether. However, in that event our goal will still be to protect you, our customer, and we will work with our regulator and major business constituents. Fire, power, or other local situations could prevent us from gaining access to our building and offices. Our main office personnel who are essential to recovery will be able to access their computer systems and files customer phone lines will be redirected to appropriate personnel at their alternate locations including, in some cases, their homes. Our web site home page will post messages informing customers of the disruption and our current capacity and ability to handle their transactions.