Friday, July 24th, 2009

Business continuity is a matter of business survival. If you're not sure what it is, it is what you do to make sure everything is up and running in the case of a disaster. Many companies have a business continuity plan, which means they will be prepared in case of an earthquake, a power surge, or another disaster that could keep them from doing business.A business continuity service can help a business continue their business operations. This is usually because data storage and other functions are taken care of off-site and usually from another place in the world. However, what this does is allow the business to retrieve the information that they need. In many cases, customers are not even aware that there is a problem. They don't need to know that there is a problem. All they need to know is that their situation was taken care of accordingly. They don't have to know about anything that is going on within your business.Evaluating a business continuity serviceTo find the right business continuity service, you need to evaluate the service. First, you need to look at the continuity services they offer. If they offer things that you don't need, then see if they can offer you just what you need. A lot ...
Tags: Business Services, Doing Business, Services Business
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Saturday, June 27th, 2009

What is business continuity? It is about making plans to help your business return to normal following an interruption, crisis or even disaster. It is not just about dealing with disasters when they occur but also about planning procedures and systems to avoid any foreseeable crisis.If you watch the news you will notice that disasters are happening on a daily basis around the globe. The biggest harbinger of trouble is Mother Nature with her volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami, floods and droughts. Have I missed anything?Mother Nature is closely followed by man made disasters. Wherever man is around you can be sure that some sort of crisis is getting ready to erupt. Man specialises in eroding the environment, starting a war, oppressing the weak, bombing innocent civilians and creating environments where fire spreads quickly!In both man made and natural disasters the first thing to often get affected is the internet and our ability to communicate effectively. So therefore this is the first item on the agenda in a decent business continuity plan. What proactive measures can the business can to have as many channels of communication open and how can it establish communication as soon as possible once it has gone down?Data is another important factor to consider. What proactive plans does the ...
Tags: Harbinger, Innocent Civilians, Mother Nature
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Friday, June 26th, 2009

Accessing disaster recovery services in the event that your company's computer network goes down or there is a massive failure of your IT infrastructure is not a huge concern for large business. Generally, large companies, irrespective if they are intense users of IT resources, have professional planners dedicated to business continuity and disaster recovery planning. But for smaller companies who may not have the time or resources to devote to disaster planning, being able to locate and access experienced professionals who can recover data and get a small or mid-sized company's computer network and IT infrastructure up and running quickly can be the difference between a business setback and permanently closing your company's doors.In today's business world sudden and unexpected business interruptions can come from many varied sources. Whether from flood, fire or the avian flue, tornadoes or terrorism, an unexpected event or unexpected confluence of events can shut down a business quickly, and the amount of time it takes for that business to get up and running again will largely determine the bottom lie impact of the unexpected. And the key to getting a business up and running quickly will usually depend on how quickly the business' computer systems can be recovered.On September 11, 2001, New York brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald ...
Tags: Act Of Altruism, Business Interruptions, Massive Failure
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Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Email has become the most pervasive form of business communication, impacting every aspect of every organization: communications between management, employees, prospects, customers, vendors, suppliers, partners, investors, and analysts.The average email user sends 34 emails and receives 99 emails every day, and overall email use is growing 53% per year. Despite large enterprise investments in replication, mirroring, and tape back up systems, email systems continue to fail. While it is widely known that natural and man-made disasters can lead to email outages, new data shows that email systems are more frequently brought down by technological failures.MessageOne, a leading provider of email continuity solutions, commissioned this research report to understand the frequency, severity, and cause of email outages in North American corporations using Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. This research shows that enterprise email systems are prone to a variety of potential breakdowns including SAN (Storage Area Network) failures, improper configuration, losses in network access, database corruption, and viruses. Data from the survey shows that in any given 12-month time period, there is a 75% likelihood of an unplanned email outage and a 14% likelihood of a planned email outage for any given company.MessageOne recently surveyed its customers -- hundreds of companies serving over 1,000,000 email users -- on email outages during a recent ...
Tags: Business Communication, Database Corruption, Enterprise Investments
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Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Ensuring that a company could continue day-to-day operations in the face of a large-scale disruption to its information technology (IT) infrastructure is a critical yet often overlooked or underemphasized component of a company's business plan in what is an increasingly risk-prone, technology-dependent global business environment. Procuring and testing the computer rentals, server rentals and critical systems that would be necessary to ensure business continuity for a company that (unlike many of the largest and most technology dependent companies) does not have a dedicated alternate disaster recovery site in place is perhaps one of the easiest and most efficient ways for a company to kickstart a business continuity initiative."Business continuity" the buzzword in the disaster recovery field has been a focus of concern for both industry and government in the unsettling wake of events in this post-9/11 world. Public Safety Canada distinguishes between a "business resumption plan", a "disaster recovery plan" and a "business continuity plan". A "business resumption plan" focuses on how a business will resume normal operations after a disruption caused by natural or man-made causes. A "disaster recovery plan" focuses on how a company will recover its IT assets after a disastrous interruption, while a "business continuity plan" emphasizes how a company can enable critical services or products to be ...
Tags: Critical Services, Disaster Plan, Endeavors
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Monday, March 30th, 2009

IntroductionWhile you have no doubt heard the mantra, "Backup, backup, backup!” many small businesses have yet to take this key business process to the next level which is Business Continuity Planning.In this article, I'm going to briefly cover several basic areas that need to be accounted for when starting to create the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) portion of your companies general Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) vs. Business Continuity Plan (BCP)Often the terms Disaster Recovery Plan and Business Continuity Plan are used interchangeably when the Business Continuity Plan is a subset of your companies overall Disaster Recovery Plan. Your BCP accounts for the resumption of any IT processes critical to your businesses recovery after a disaster.The BCP includes all the details of how you will…- Restore or recreate your IT infrastructure- Protect and restore company data- Have access to necessary network hardware and application software- Planning for non-IT related aspects such as identifying key personnel and facilitiesBusiness Continuity Plan (BCP)The BCP is essentially a play book that tells all of the key players in your company what needs to happen after a disaster. It is your how-to manual on how to rebuild the IT infrastructure of your business quickly so that it will be ready for your company to resume ...
Tags: Continuation, Resumption, Subset
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Friday, February 13th, 2009

Outsourced IT Support and Business Continuity working together Businesses are under increasing pressure to have and to comply with a Business Continuity plan. You must identify critical data and recognise the impact of the loss of such data to establish Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) to keep your business going. Directors and Board members are also looking to cut costs by seeking cheaper alternatives of essential business processes without compromising on the quality of service. Business Continuity (BC) is a subject that is on the minds of many business decision makers today. Disasters do happen and can disrupt business operations, raising some very important questions: · How can a business deal with customer issues without the necessary data to hand? · Can a business continue to work, not only through the disaster, but afterwards as well? Statistics show that 72% of all UK businesses have a Disaster Recovery (DR) plan in place. However, almost half do not test these plans*. So, if a disaster did happen, would these plans work? You can have a backup plan - what is more important is the ability to perform recovery operations successfully. This often requires IT personnel to perform necessary data recovery tasks as well as assisting in the planning stage to ensure every possible ...
Tags: Business Continuity Plan, Disaster Recovery, Necessary Data
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Friday, January 30th, 2009

In the volatile world we live in today, any business in the world could be jeopardised by any number of external influences, how can you prepare your business correctly to cope with the unexpected crises that could occur at any time.With the western world being on a constantly heightened security alert, natural disasters occurring more and more frequently and other threats that have not even been predicted, today's world is a risky place to live in. However with careful planning and foresight, your business and stakeholders do not have to be kept in the dark about possible dangers, problems or risks.Reliable communication plays a significant role in resolving incidents successfully, and minimising disruption. During times of desperation, simple, clear communication can be a huge life saver. It is human nature to panic when unexpected disasters strike, but as Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If' concurs, "If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs" you will be able to remain calm, think logically and make the best possible judgments.The tragic events of the London bombings on the 07/07/2005 not only killed many innocent people but caused mayhem throughout London, and effected many other places in the world. Due to the attacks, most of the mobile phone networks in the UK either ...
Tags: Extreme Circumstances, Natural Disasters, Tragic Events
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Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

A Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) plan can be created for anything. Natural disasters, business plans, infrastructure projects, daily operations of a business, sports teams, really anything that has the possibility of not running right can have a plan. For this article the term will be project, which is open to your interpretation on what a project actually is.Who takes the kids to schools when the primary driver has the flu? That is the most basic BC plan.What do we do when we get a flat tire? That is the most basic DR plan.These 2 examples may not be written out, but they are just as valid as any other plan, and there is usually a plan in place. And yes, you can have one half without the other or call the plan DRBC if recovering from the disaster is a higher priority than continuing business.Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans are developed for certain circumstances that have the probability of occurring. Spending years of work and millions of dollars to secure a data center in the Atacama mountains desert region against flooding is useless. Equally useless is spending years of work and millions of dollars to prevent a New York snow in the winter.There are 4 primary categories that are ...
Tags: Business Plans, Dr Plan, Sports Teams
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Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

These advancements have made it possible to transcend boundaries of race, culture and language. Finally, there is a universal language to conduct business. While the world may have become a smaller place, businesses have grown manifold as the boundaries of exchange have widened. In this entire scenario where data is a defining feature, time and efficiency are of the essence. In the event of data loss, the monetary loss to a company can almost lead it to bankruptcy.When Disaster StrikesThe world of information technology is incredible but not infallible. It is susceptible to frequent data loss, which can be catastrophic for companies which depend largely on data for their day-to-day functioning. Data loss can occur due to several reasons from human error, technical malfunction and natural disasters. Natural disasters have known to leave behind devastation and incredible losses. They also happen at a time when people are least prepared. Earthquakes, tornadoes, floods etc. cause monumental losses, which is very difficult to recover from. Therefore, increasingly, large corporations are spending a lot of time and effort to put a contingency plan in place to be prepared and minimise losses.Disaster Recovery PlanningDisaster Recovery Planning is a coordinated activity, which involves installing measures to facilitate a business’s continued operation, in case a disaster strikes. If ...
Tags: Data Recovery, Monetary Loss, Tornadoes
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