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Lessons in
Disaster Recovery
Be prepared with systems in place to
assist with recovery and continuity
in the event of a disaster.
Read more...
Technology for
Recovery Planning
Through
the use of utility computing
technology, organizations can
duplicate business assets and
processes to aid in recovery.
Read more...
Make Your
Company Stand Out in a Crowd
How to
develop a competitive edge and
unique selling proposition. Read
more...
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Make Your Company Stand Out in a Crowd
Every business or non-profit organization
needs to develop a "competitive edge" to be
successful—some
product or service or delivery that makes it
stand out in a crowd. As a business owner or
manager you should ask "What makes our
company distinctive from others?" A company
or firm needs to develop distinctive
benefits for their target market that are
superior to their competition. If you don't,
there's no good reason for a consumer to
come to you for business. They might as well
go to the place down the street. Once that
competitive edge or advantage over other
businesses is established, it then needs to
be strategically communicated to your
market.
You must take the time to understand your
own business and your customers in order to
develop your competitive edge. What do your
customers really need and want? What can you
offer that other businesses don’t? Once this
is understood, you can develop a unique
selling proposition (USP). This is your
core differentiation—the aspect of your
product or service that gives you the edge
over other companies. It must be truly
unique—something people can't get unless
they come to you. When customers see or hear
your USP they will recognize that it meets
their need and say "That’s exactly what I
need", or "That solves the problem I have to
a tee."
The uniqueness could take several forms. Is
it low price, friendly, helpful service,
personal attention, a superior product, a
unique technological feature, and/or
long-term support? This can be broken down.
If you focus on customer satisfaction there
are typically six important sources that can
provide that. Are you better than your
competition in providing (1) quality
relationships with customers, (2) quality
products, (3) dedication to service, (4)
convenience, (5) innovation, or (6) emphasis
on speed?
Once your USP is developed you can begin
advertising and promoting it as you
implement an advertising plan.
See ideas for disseminating your USP
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Lessons in Disaster
Recovery
Guidelines and considerations for
disaster recovery
planning |
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Disaster recovery planning is a hot topic of
discussion for IT administrators and business
owners. In light of the recent Gulf Coast disaster,
it has become paramount for many organizations. The
right time to determine whether or not a company is
sufficiently protected is not after a company
experiences a disaster, but before.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have taught many
companies some hard lessons. They faced problems
ranging from the inability to locate or communicate
with employees to the entire loss of the business
and surrounding community infrastructure. The Gulf
Coast example may be a reflection of the worst-case
scenario, but it also points out some fundamentally
important considerations that a company must
incorporate when creating a technology plan for
disaster recovery and business continuity.
Employees are People
One of the first things to remember in any disaster
is that employees are people. They have lives
outside the office, families, homes, fears,
concerns, and responsibilities. This is a reality
that is frequently overlooked in a disaster plan.
Business issues such as customer or vendor
communications and technology and systems continuity
may be vital, but in the event of a disaster where
lives are at stake, can the company expect personnel
to overlook their personal concerns? Probably not,
unless they are in health care, law enforcement, or
the military. Even in those cases, caring for family
and loved ones may take precedence over job
responsibilities.
LESSON 1: Since it is
unrealistic to rely on personnel immediately after a
disaster, businesses need to ensure there are
systems in place to assist with continuity and
recovery.
Businesses rely on facilities. Facilities are
created from infrastructure. Infrastructure, more
often than not, is not in your control. Telephone
service, connectivity, electrical power, street
access to the building, access to the surrounding
areas—these are infrastructure elements over which
you have little or no control. The loss of
infrastructure, however, impacts you significantly.
It does not matter how much backup power you have if
you have no physical access to the building. And
telephone service becomes valueless (frequently) if
the power is out.
Continued... more
lessons and considerations
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Technology for
Recovery Planning
Services that
can aid in business continuity following
a disaster
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One of the easiest
and affordable ways to prevent loss in the
event of a disaster is to use utility
computing technology to duplicate business
assets and processes. For example, IT assets
and administration, general business
processes, customer/vendor communications,
and even business location, can be protected
by placing network management, business
software, email, and financial and customer
data offsite at a protected data center.
Utility computing through application
service providers (ASPs), file sharing
tools, offsite back up and virus protection
services, and outsourced IT maintenance
service can put key business assets out of
harms way. Access to the assets and
processes is via the Internet so during
normal business, remote access is a
convenient feature that can create
efficiencies. If or when a disaster strikes
a local office, staff members can access
business information simply by getting to an
Internet connection in a safe location. Many
business processes can then still be
conducted even if the home office is
destroyed.
Data Center Advantages
What makes utility computing a secure method
is the data facility where commercial
servers, hosted software, backed up data,
and shared files are located. Best practices
for ASPs is to use a Class A facility with
state-of-the-art physical, environmental,
seismic, and technological protection. (Data
centers are not located in hurricane regions
or near earthquake fault zones).
Protection would include biometric scanning
for access, closed circuit video
surveillance, fire suppression systems,
backup UPS and generator, redundant routing
equipment, environmental controls, secure
cabinets with seismic bracing, best-in-breed
security and anti-virus scanning, and more!
Planning Options
A business can place as little or as much of
their software and data in a protected
facility as they want. Obviously, the more
of their processes on the platform, i.e.
accounting, billing, payroll, office
productivity, email, database, contact
management, customer relations management,
quoting and invoices, and file sharing, the
more protection and peace of mind. When the
service can include IT management and
networking, then this also takes important
functions offsite out of harm’s way in case
of an emergency situation.
Read more on
utility computing solutions |
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