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Simple steps to keep your IT up and running, without breaking the bank. Business continuity is an exercise that many companies, especially SMEs, do not seriously consider until it is too late, when vital data has already been lost or users are unable to access key applications that keep the business running.
Andrew Barnes, senior vice president of corporate development, Neverfail, offers top tips to help SMBs minimise risk and maximise business opportunity.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
Don’t avoid thinking about business continuity. Make sure that you have a plan in the event of a disaster. According to a recent analyst report from Freeform Dynamics, nearly 30% of businesses only think about business continuity or disaster recovery AFTER unscheduled downtime has occurred; of these respondents, over half (57%) have disruptions of some sort on a regular basis, which is quite worrying.
Downtime can occur for a number of reasons – from scheduled upgrades to power outages, and larger, unforeseen events, such as the floods of the summer of 2007.
These issues don’t mean that the business stops though; far from it. In today’s business climate, the phrase ‘time is money’ has never been more apt, and SMEs need the same protection that larger organisations have.
Desert Island Applications
IT spending is increasingly tight. The majority of SMEs simply can’t afford an all-encompassing, blanket business continuity solution; and in truth, most don’t need that blanket coverage.
When choosing an appropriate business continuity solution, it is important to prioritise protection on an application-by-application, or granular, basis. There is no one-size-fits-all business continuity solution, especially for the SMB market which often has specific business priorities.
No matter the size of the company, one application that is likely to be at the top of the business-critical application list is email. In fact, Freeform Dynamics found that around 25% of SMEs are currently experiencing email availability problems, which has been linked to growth in demand and underinvestment in email platforms.
The report also indicates that smaller organisations may need to look at their investment levels around business continuity for web services or other external-facing applications, as these systems experienced a concerning number of availability problems. However, departmental systems such as accounting and HR applications experienced fewer issues for SME’s than with their larger counterparts, suggesting a better level of investment in business continuity in these areas.
Testing 1-2-3
Testing is essential for any business continuity and disaster recovery plan to ensure that the solution meets the recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO). The RPO covers the amount of data your organisation can afford to lose, the RTO is the amount of time taken after any incident to get back to an acceptable level of operation.
SMBs must test their business continuity systems regularly; at the very least, annually. It is no use putting a system in place if it might not work when the time comes for use. However, an April 2008 PriceWaterhouse Coopers LLP survey found that almost half of disaster recovery plans had not been tested in the past year, which is testing luck!
Keeping things healthy
The IT infrastructures of today’s corporations are more complex than in the past, which increases strain on the network. Add in the SMB market’s need for increased flexibility and mobile working, and the system strain is exponential.
More is expected from IT infrastructures and systems than ever before, and in order to ensure everything is up to date and running as it should be, planned maintenance is essential as well as a solid business continuity plan to carry the company through this scheduled downtime.
What a difference a day makes!
SMBs need to review their business continuity and disaster recovery solutions regularly, and make sure they continue to line up with business demands and goals. Whenever new software is added to the IT infrastructure, and as the business grows, the plan must be at the forefront of the agenda to be sure that it is in line with operational expectations.
Companies of all sizes will always experience risk at some level, so it is essential to ensure that a plan is in place to combat both external and internal threats, and that this plan is continually updated to make sure that it fits your business, no matter the size.
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