When considering Disaster Recovery - ask Yourself some of the following questions?

1. What would happen if the key offices were inaccessible? 

2. If we lost our servers and critical data how would we continue to trade?

3. How would data be stored and how would they be recovered? 

4. What would be the impact of losing current data? For instance, what happens if an emergency occurs towards the end of a business day before backups have been taken?

5. What equipment is available to recover the data to and how quickly could a working environment be constructed to allow the organisation to continue to function?

6. Desktop computers 

7. Servers 

8. Multiple servers 

9. Networked computers 

10. Multiple branch offices 

11. Single or multiple field laptop computers 

It is now generally recognized that Business  continuity planning and disaster recovery planning are vital activities. However, the creation of (and maintenance of) a sound business continuity and disaster recovery plan, is a complex undertaking, involving a series of steps. 

Prior to creation of the plan itself, it is essential to consider the potential impacts of disaster and to understand the underlying risks: these are the foundations upon which a sound business continuity plan or disaster recovery plan should be built. 

Following these activities the plan itself must be constructed - no small task. This itself must then be maintained, tested and audited to ensure that it remains appropriate to the needs of the organization. And what about the support infrastructure and services?

Data Recovery

1. Security:
   Your data is backed up automatically every night to a managed remote secure server. In the unfortunate event that you suffer loss or damage through theft, fire, flood or systems failure, your vital data is safe and can be quickly reinstated to allow your business to continue trading.

1. Support:
   You have continuous access to our telephone support service where our trained engineers can answer your questions, just like having your own IT department.

1. Service:
   If one of your computers needs to be repaired we can provide you with a replacement machine, delivered to your premises within 4 hours, whilst the repair is carried out.

1. Safety:
   We can remotely monitor the operational effectiveness of your critical IT systems and give you advance warning of potential systems failures—for example, a hard disk is reaching capacity. Potential problems can thus be resolved before they impact on your business.

1. Savings:
   You receive access to reduced rates for new machines, software, consultancy, project development and other services.

Business Continuity

Few organisations have plans or procedures to implement should a disaster strike their systems. We recognise that most businesses depend heavily upon their computer systems and have therefore designed a full range of disaster recovery consulting services.

Our consultants take great care in interviewing your IT personnel to identify system usage and critical applications. We analyse and map all components of the IT infrastructure including all file servers, applications servers, gateways, workstations and peripheral devices. 

At this point we compile a detailed inventory and report that clearly identifies the critical components of the system. From this we produce a disaster recovery plan that addresses security and user access.

With this in mind, we have been aware for some time that Business Continuity has become a very “hot” issue for many organisations. And while there may be plans to ensure that corporate data is properly protected by back-ups, a great deal of thought is now going on into exactly how they would deal with a live emergency situation.