Business Continuity Planning: Who says it is only meant for the Big Guys?

Unlike enterprises size companies, many smaller companies cannot afford optimal in-house strategies and solutions available and called for in Business Continuity Planning (BCP). A good Business Continuity Plan is designed to make sure your firm is able to timely recover from a disaster and reopen for business as quick as possible. Those companies that do not prepare one or are unable or unwilling to spend the money and time to prepare one are consequently at an elevated risk of being put out of business due to any major loss of data. Loss of data could mean emails lost, accounting data lost, patient or client files lost, company records lost, client legal records or orders lost and so on.

BCP is the blueprint for how businesses plan to survive everything from local equipment failure to global disaster. Data-oriented BCP, an indispensable component of business planning regardless of organization size, poses the following challenges. Smaller businesses generally lack the in-house IT resources to achieve these demanding planning, technical and process requirements. Therefore, many SMBs either neglect to implement any data-oriented business continuity plan or else approach data backup and recovery in a sporadic, rudimentary fashion that fails to conform to the best practices of BCP.

Issues such as identifying what data to back up; identifying how frequently to back up and related costs and ROI; retaining the ability to recover not only the most recent data, but also data from older time horizons, such as past quarters and years; and retaining the ability to monitor and manage the integrity of ongoing data backup processes so that backup failures can be diagnosed and remedied before adversely impacting the BCP lifecycle must be examined. Once the issue is analyzed a solution must be chosen and added to the Plan. Every company must examine their challenges, the range of existing solutions and their drawbacks and put a plan in place.

WesTec Services offer complete BCP services for SMB’s. Learn more at http://www.westecservices.net/BackupDisasterRecovery/ or at WTComm at http://www.wtcom.net/services-solutions/business-continuity-disaster-recovery/

Computer Security: Human Nature vs. Technology

Technology can do some amazing things. Recent years have seen the development of ever-cheaper and more powerful hardware, software that harnesses the hardware to open new vistas for computer users, as well as advancements in cryptography and other sciences. It’s tempting to believe that technology can deliver a risk-free world, if we just work hard enough. However, this is simply not realistic.

Perfect security requires a level of perfection that simply doesn’t exist, and in fact isn’t likely to ever exist. This is true for software as well as virtually all fields of human interest. Software development is an imperfect science, and all software has bugs. Some of them can be exploited to cause security breaches. That’s just a fact of life. But even if software could be made perfect, it wouldn’t solve the problem entirely. Most attacks involve, to one degree or another, some manipulation of human nature—this is usually referred to as social engineering. Raise the cost and difficulty of attacking security technology, and bad guys will respond by shifting their focus away from the technology and toward the human being at the console. It’s vital that you understand your role in maintaining solid security, or you could become the chink in your own systems’ armor.

The solution is to recognize two essential points. First, security consists of both technology and policy—that is, it’s the combination of the technology and how it’s used that ultimately determines how secure your systems are. Second, security is journey, not a destination—it isn’t a problem that can be “solved” once and for all; it’s a constant series of moves and countermoves between the good guys and the bad guys. The key is to ensure that you have good security awareness and exercise sound judgment.

For more information see www.westecservices.net

Is Your Disaster Recovery Plan Ready to Work?

Businesses are constantly evolving and changing. Is your disaster recovery plan changing, too? It should be otherwise it might not work!

Every company can experience a business-altering event at any time:  floods, explosions, accidents, even computer malfunctions—the list is endless.

If you already have a disaster recovery plan, you’re prepared to prevent such events from disrupting your normal operations—or at least you were at the time you created the plan. But how long ago was that?

As your business has grown, it’s likely that your products and services, or at least the way you deliver them, has changed as well. For example, the increase in technology-based processes over the past few years has likely increased your reliance on the availability of computer systems and data for your business to function effectively.

These changes might necessitate a change in your disaster recovery plan. As a result, we recommend a regular review of your plan. If you make changes, these change should be tested and any new processes documented so all employees can be trained accordingly.

Finally, keep in mind that reviewing your disaster recovery plan isn’t a one-time event. Because changes to your products and services, or the way you deliver them, are likely to continue, reviewing your disaster recovery plan should be a regular process.

WesTec Services specializes in helping companies prepare and review their

Disaster Recovery Plans.

For more information go to www.westecservices.net/BackupDisasterRecovery/

Save yourself from computer downtime by buying uptime services

Today, all business is highly dependent on their I.T. systems being available 24×7. Downtime, especially in today’s troubled economy, must be avoided at all costs. Using a IT service provider who offers guaranteed uptime services is a way to reduce unnecessary downtime. Here are eight areas that an uptime services focused IT service provider can increase your system uptime:

1. Managed and Consolidated Maintenance Contract

There are a variety of maintenance bundles available in the marketplace, designed to meet your budget, increase visibility of your installed systems and keep your mission critical IT infrastructure at 24×7 operational standards. A dedicated provider maintenance team can set up and maintain your IT system to achieve 99.99% uptime, freeing up your resources to perform high value business functions.

1. Onsite Add/Move/Change Hardware Services

An onsite service technician is only a couple clicks away, to perform the service work you require. A personalized web portal can be provided to request pre-contracted service engineers to perform add/change/move tasks to your installed infrastructure. Service rates are pre-negotiated, with only approved personnel granted access to the service request portal. All service billings are consolidated and billed at month end to reduce complexity and administrative costs. All of these changes will reduce your IT service costs.

1. Remote Infrastructure Services

Imagine a scalable, configurable suite of services to remotely monitor, manage and report on IT infrastructures. A variety of remote support services are available to meet your specific needs, including: network, server, applications, and application infrastructure support and monitoring services. Services are available for specific hours of the day, providing necessary staff augmentation, at the hours that are most critical to your business.

1. Server Optimization Services

Get the most out of what you have! Server optimization services can assist you in optimizing the environment you currently have. Don’t get caught investing in new equipment when you are not using your current equipment to its full potential.

1. Storage Optimization Services

Storage is a self fulfilling prophecy of ever increasing demands. The more reliant we become on our technologies, the greater our demand becomes to store the data we have generated and then mine it based on constantly changing attributes. Through storage optimization services, your provider  can assist you with developing a strategy for your storage environment, develop best practices on how to manage your storage, develop reporting and analytics against your stored data, and consolidate and virtualize your storage to do more with what you have.

1. Server Security Services

Your service provider can provide you with necessary services to secure your servers by providing mission critical applications to your end users, secure your email database and content from insider threats, protect your network from inside and outside threats and provide compliance and vulnerability management per industry compliance regulations.

1. Business Continuity and Recovery Services

Where will you recover to if disaster hits your I.T. facility or region of business? Disaster comes in many sizes and shapes. It can be a broken water pipe that floods the building, a local fire or something larger striking an entire region. Through custom Business Continuity and Recovery Service contracts, specifically tailored to meet your recovery requirements and budget, you can rest assured that you will recover from a declared disaster with minimal impact to your I.T. operation.

1. Data Mobility Services

Moving your stored data from one place to another is a daunting task. Whether it’s a one-time move or a continuous replication, ensuring that your data was transferred correctly, without loss or corruption, is critical to your continued success. Through a variety of data mobility and replication products, a provider can build an environment that you can trust, to ensure your data is being replicated securely and accurately.

Find more information at http://www.westecservices.net/ManagedServices/

Can’t gamble on company data

You can’t gamble when it comes to protecting your firm’s data. Most firm’s implement the standard security measures to protect against intruders. They also perform regular backup of data so they are prepared in case of system failures, virus attacks or natural disasters. Unfortunately, many companies still rely on tape backups as their primary backup media.

The questions all of us in business must ask about our computer data is, can we really afford to take disaster recovery risks with our data? “Data is one of two irreplaceable business assets, second only to loss of life,” writes Dennis Wenk in an article in the Disaster Recovery Journal (Winter 2004, “Is ‘Good Enough’ Storage Good Enough for Compliance?”). While comparing data loss to the loss of life might seem outrageous, the article goes on to state, “Research has shown that 50 percent of companies that lose critical systems for more than 10 days never recover, 43 percent of companies experiencing a disaster never reopen, and 29 percent of the remaining close within two years. That’s  the death of a corporation.”

Tape backups which were the standard for so many companies, have now been replaced by a number of more reliable, cost effective technologies. Computerworld listed tape backup as one of five submerging technologies, stating that “Although magnetic tape’s cost per megabyte will give it a role in keeping archival records for years to come, better technologies and techniques are eroding tape’s dominance for day-to-day backup and recovery tasks” (October 20, 2003, “Submerging Technologies: Five that are Sinking Fast” by Gary H. Anthes and Robert L. Mitchell). Note that this article was published in 2003 and some companies are still using tape as their primary backup media. These firms represent a disaster waiting to happen and unfortunately for them and their employees it is only a matter of time.

If you would like more information about protecting your back-ups please see our website at www.westecservices.net

5 Reasons to Look at Managed IT Services

Managed IT services are the technology solution of choice for large businesses, but many small and medium businesses remain resistant to considering this approach. Below are five reasons you may want to change your mind.
Reason #1: You need to control costs. In today’s economic environment, IT budgets have been slashed – but a cut in IT spending doesn’t come with a cut in demand for IT services. As a result, you have to do the same amount of work with fewer resources. Although managed services might cost more in the short-term, they cost far less in the long term once you account for the domino effect of lost productivity and customer dissatisfaction.
Reason #2: IT complexity is increasing. The breadth of information technology a company requires places small- to mid-sized businesses at a distinct disadvantage. Equipment is constantly upgraded in the market, and new IT-related specialties are emerging in a variety of areas, from telephony to networking. It’s difficult for small businesses to maintain the expertise necessary to properly manage these new technologies.
Reason #3: You’re more dependent than ever on IT. At the same time, companies have become dramatically more dependent on IT in the past few years—and increased use of IT leads to increased outages and greater loss of productivity.
Reason #4: Your existing solutions are inefficient. In today’s world, a one- or-two person in-house IT department or consultancy simply cannot handle the occasional IT breakdowns that are bound to occur. In many cases, employees have to wait in line to receive help. As a result, not only are your employees less productive, their morale is also decreased—and unhappy employees are less productive employees.
Reason #5: You need to maintain compliance. More and more companies are finding themselves subject to regulatory compliance, from Sarbanes-Oxley to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)—and most small businesses don’t have the resources to fully understand the requirements of these regulations, let alone comply with them.

How Secure Is Your Business From Theft?

Where is the focus of the security for your business? Do you focus on “inside” or “outside” threats? Most businesses focus on one or the other not both. The risk of theft from either source can be equally devastating to the business.
A business is forced to monitor its premises 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in order to protect its property. Many businesses fail to properly protect themselves even thought they know there is a real threat of theft.
The indirect cost of a theft sometimes is more than the cost of the lost property. An example would be the theft of a machine or inventory that is necessary to complete a job. Without one or the other, the production line shuts down costing the company revenue on completed product. Another example is the cost of lost productivity when employees fail to efficiently perform their jobs. A camera(s) placed in areas of production can monitor the flow of work. When an employee(s) fail to perform their assigned task then management can respond immediately instead of waiting to the end of the day/week/month to know through reporting that work goals are not being met.
CCTV or security cameras can provide the most cost effective protection to the business. They can monitor the business 24/7 without the need for human intervention. A CCTV system can record the activities of both employees and visitors for later review. A system can even be setup to only record when triggered by an event such as entry by a person(s) into a designated area that is being watched.
The use of security cameras does raise a privacy issue potentially with employees and visitors alike. It is important to notify everyone that cameras are in use and the evidence they produce will be used to protect the business.

How Much Is Too Much Too Spend On IT Services?

The question of what kind of service makes sense for my computer system is one that comes up every day for the business owner/manager. Too much service in the form of a contract or on-site employee is a waste of money. Too little service and the system goes down and productivity tied to the system suffers as a result.

Last week a prospective client contacted us asking what our service labor rates were. I visited with the prospect over the phone asking several questions trying to determine her needs. You see our rate schedule ranges from $90.00/hour to $150.00/hour depending on which of our service plans you use. When I started discussing our plans she stopped me cold. She explained that the owner would not “buy” a service or preventive maintenance plan as he thought they cost too much. However, in a whisper level tone of voice, she confided in me that she and other employees thought the company really needed a maintenance plan. Why? Because the system would go down on a regular basis and the employees were unable to complete their work when this happened.

Let me suggest that the real question for the owner is not really the cost of the service plan but how much does it cost me when my computer system is down. He needs someone, whom he trust, to show him the math. The cost of the service plan compared to the cost of an hour of system downtime for the company as a whole. These types of calculations are not difficult to perform. When the system is down you have the labor cost of all the employees standing around because the computer is a critical tool that they must have to perform their jobs; cost of lost business revenue if order taking or say production is stopped while the system is down; and potentially the opportunity cost of losing potential new customers because you are unable to respond fast enough to their inquires.
How much does the owner need to spend on maintaining his computer system? The amount necessary to keep the system up and running 99.99% of the time when employees, clients and vendors need access to the system to complete their work.

Post Script: If the owner I mentioned above doesn’t do something about the uptime of his system he will begin to lose employees. The worst of it is the best employees will be the first to leave out of the frustration of not having the proper tools to work with.

WesTec Technology Ramble –

Today our phone and internet service went down. It has been down since 2:00am this morning and I am writing this piece at 10:00am. That is a long time to be out of touch with the rest of the business world. We are using our cell phones to connect, but that can be cumbersome when your business model is set up using a combination of email, ACT!, Commit and voice that is all integrated. Needless to say everything has slowed down in the office.

Our biggest concern are the client service request that are stuck in the queue or email pipeline. We have reached out to larger clients via our cell phones to verify their service needs. Unfortunately a number them are suffering from the same outage of phone and internet service we are. It’s amazing how in our little microcosm of a client base how productivity and engagement can be so deeply affected by the loss of our major communication tools.

Some would say this is another form of a disaster, man-made in this case, that we need a back-up plan for. We specialize in working with clients to develop such contingency plans for man-made and natural disasters. One of the main issues when building such plans is cost. There is a scale you work with that includes time, location, type of response, and other factors. The formula projects cost which are higher the quicker the response, the more remote the location and the degree that you duplicate your current technology to respond to such an event.

Our current disaster would require a duplicate phone/internet service to be in place as a back-up system. The value of this backup system would be predicated on the ability to re-route at least the main phone number and report IP addresses for the internet and possibly the phone system.

The question as with all disaster planning, as it should be, is what is my being down costing my clients? The cost of a duplicate phone/internet service, even minimal service, would be $1500.00 to tens of thousands of dollars for larger businesses. What is the cost to the business of being ‘offline’ for even one-hour? That is the question we have to answer here at our business today as we enter our third business hour of no communication.