Business continuity - hard work pays off

It is generally accepted that sound business recovery planning and disaster recovery planning are core to the health of an organisation. Planning for the 'unforeseen' may not always be so easy - that's why when it comes to establishing a business continuity framework that's absolutely right for your organisation, professional expertise is vital.

Mike Philpott, Datashare Solutions {Title} reveals the elements that make up an effective business continuity framework and how your business can benefit from the professional touch:

"Behind every robust business continuity plan there is a plethora of background work: Suitable sources of information must be identified for products and services; planning tasks themselves can be onerous and constructing the business continuity plan itself can be challenging and time consuming.

"Seeking professional advice from the start can be less costly and labour intensive in the long run. We have helped countless organisations of all sizes and throughout all industry sectors to establish business continuity frameworks that will stand them in good stead and ensure continuity should unforeseen or difficult circumstances ensue.

"Our goal is to deliver to meet each client's business objectives and make each and every IT budget work harder. Our business continuity planning uses proven methodology and we develop in close relationships with our clients to clearly define specific requirements from the off. We strive to be flexible in our approach and tailor our services to suit individual requirements."

In summary, Datashare's business continuity planning involves:

• Consultation engaging all appropriate business and technical staff to establish recovery needs should a business continuity situation develop threatening business-related IT functions
• Outline of methodology for rolling out the appropriate business recovery action within relevant timeframes
• Documentation:

-          Requirements section, included in the Business Continuity Plan, detailing criticalities and their respective recovery timeframes

-          The main body of the text comprises the IT Disaster Recovery section of the Business Continuity Plan - typically structured so it can be utilised to assess  ongoing IT Disaster Recovery requirements 

"We have broad ranging experience gained through planning and implementing successful Business Continuity Plans and are adept at taking into account all IT related functions within the client's operations," Philpott continues.

"Business Continuity Planning relies upon the integrity of data for business functions, system technicalities and acceptable outage timeframes. We carefully investigate all applications utilised to determine their business purpose and criticality. Then we grant each application a 'recovery score' so that we can gauge and apply the right level of Disaster Recovery provision to it.

"From server-based systems analysis for technical specifications plus dependencies to infrastructure investigations, and reviewing any existing Business Continuity Plan, we do our utmost to ensure that our proposed IT Disaster Recovery solutions are scoped to meet our client's specific objectives."

Tried and tested methodology

A Business Continuity Plan relies upon the integrity of data, collated through technical analysis and workshop sessions.  Datashare Solutions involves key stakeholders from the start and a workshop scenario ensures all of the core issues are as Philpott puts it, "laid on the table for detailed analysis".

"We then meet small groups or one to one with technical or business personnel to pursue the nitty gritty of business data collation and iron out any inconsistencies.

"After this stage, we need to assign 'recovery criteria' to business processes or systems to determine for example, how long downtime is before it becomes detrimental to business. How many hours or days have you got before the situation is simply untenable?"

The next step is to assign, by consensus, recovery levels to each application, network service or business process that Datashare has identified.

"Datashare champions open communications and all documentation provided is transparent. We are equally upfront regarding costings. Every component of work, the number of man days required to complete each component and accompanying detail are provided, together with a quotation," Philpott concludes.

Business continuity framework? Get 'the works'

With so much more to business continuity planning than meets the eye, Datashare can ensure that your business continuity framework meets your business objectives perfectly. Ensure the correct foundations are in place for effective business recovery and disaster recovery and protect the wellbeing of your organisation.  Please  contact us for more information.

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