Business Continuity

The data availability solutions we provide form the data element of a Business Continuity (BC) or Disaster Recovery (DR) plan. Our aim is to provide you with the best option for replicating your windows data and making it available in the event of a major site outage. We also offer a comprehensive Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Service ensuring that your key business processes and information are fully protected and continue in the event of an unexpected event. We help ensure that the IT element is linked effectively into the business continuity plan making sure that key IT services are sustained and data protected.

The aim of a Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is to ensure that an organisation is as prepared as possible to survive an unforeseen incident that could have a serious effect on that organisation’s ability to carry on functioning.

Fact - 40% of businesses who don’t have a recovery plan never re-open*

*Business Continuity Institute

Common risks are occurrences such as fire, flood, theft and malicious damage i.e. computer viruses. An organisation should also be aware of specific threats, for example, an organisation based in a town centre would be impacted should the town centre be shut off by the emergency services in the event of a major incident.

In terms of an individual business, staff are a major consideration, not only because of the tasks they perform, but because of the knowledge of the business they have. How the business is run will also have an effect on the level of Business Continuity Planning required. For example a paper based office (files etc) should pay particular attention to the risk of fire or flood, while businesses with a heavy reliance on Information Technology should ensure that it has robust data resilience plans in place.

Thought should also be given to how the interest generated by an incident is going to be handled. Very often this makes or breaks the future of a company that experiences a severe incident. A company’s reputation that in many cases will have taken years to establish, can be destroyed overnight.

The key elements in putting a plan together are:

• Risk Analysis
• Business Impact Analysis

Together the output from these 2 areas will form the bulk of the plan

Because no two companies are alike, the solutions appropriate to the level of planning required vary enormously, but is something we can help with.

For more information, call us on 0870 446 0602