Business Continuity Services (BCS) is a new concept for what most people commonly refer to as 'Backing Up'. It fully encompasses the daily routine of copying business data and storing it securely away from the company premises but also automates it, removing the human element that is so often the downfall of many backup systems and, ultimately, the enterprises that rely on them.
Ensuring that data is properly backed up is a given for any business these days, but now with IT systems so vital to the operations of just about every company, it is surprising just how few have a strategy for what will happen when that backed up data is called upon. Having the data stored on media or remote, offsite storage is all well and good but if you face a situation where your IT systems are completely down, say through hardware failure, fire or theft; just how long will it be before you are operational again?
The reality that most small businesses face is days, if not weeks, of downtime. Yes, the data is safely stored away, but until new computer hardware, premises or network services are restored it cannot be accessed resulting in an extensive and existence-threatening loss in productivity.
Remote Backup Service
Let's take a fairly common 'disaster' scenario. A company has a server that runs its account database. The server is around 4 years old and suddenly the main system board fails and the server will not start. The IT support team diagnoses a failed board but the server is out of warranty. The company faces a lengthy period of time without its accounts database whilst a replacement system board or server is purchased and delivered. You then need to factor in the time required to reinstall the software and restore the backed up data and you soon run into several days without access to accounts data. What company these days can afford this to happen?
BCS from ITbuilder is a combination of services comprising of Remote Backup, System Snapshot and Online Hot Spare that equips a business with the ability to recover from most disaster situations within minimal downtime.
Click on one of the component services list to the right to learn more about BCS.