Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery: High-Stakes Solutions for Modern Businesses

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Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery: High-Stakes Solutions for Modern Businesses

The annual average cost of lost revenue and productivity by mid-sized businesses because of network downtime

BCDR: A High-Stakes Decision

A solid Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCDR) plan is all that stands between a thriving business and the potential loss of millions of dollars in missed revenue and lost productivity.

The average cost of downtime for a Fortune 1,000 company

The average network downtime experienced by mid-sized businesses annually because of service provider failures

$ 78,000

32 hours

$ 189,000

60%of businesses close within two years after

a disaster

A robust BCDR plan is what determines whether a business shuts down—or remains open—following a disaster.

40% of businesses fail to reopen after a disaster

40% 60%

91% of SMBs said that preparing for a disaster is “very” or “somewhat important” in a Department of Homeland Security survey.

Despite the high stakes, many businesses do not have BCDR plans.

However, only 38% said they have a BCDR plan in place.

91%

38%

A separate survey conducted at

America’s Small Business Summit in 2010 found this:

Nearly half ofall small businessesdo not have anyBCDR plan in place.

High stakes. Few plans.

“It won’t happen to my business.”

This reflects a misunderstanding of what ‘disaster’ entails.

• Power outage of any kind• IT systems crash• File corruption• Supply chain problems• Unexpected utility line cuts

• Scheduled network outages & repairs• Equipment failures• Application software failures• Any event that undermines service

availability

But it also is any of these events:

‘Disaster’ is a tsunami, tornado, hurricane, or flood.

• New complexities have emerged.

• Regulatory requirements have increased.

• Operational costs are higher.

• Big data has grown—exponentially.

• Cloud solutions have dramatically reshaped what BCDR looks like.

because today’s businesses are so different.

BCDR is different today

DR

The Core of Business Continuity…

Plans and tools that enable key business elements that have become unavailable to be restored as quickly as possible with as little data loss as possible. This is measured in recovery time objectives as well as recovery point objectives.

…and Disaster Recovery

BCCrafting a plan for all aspects of the business so that when unplanned downtime occurs, the business continues to operate as close to normally as possible. BC focuses on maintaining service, consistency, and productivity forsystems, infrastructure, and people.

Choosing to implement a robust BCDR plan is the first step.

The next is…Making the right choices about the most effective

BCDR plan.

What must beConsidered when

crafting & implementingBCDR plans?

Business leaders should collaborate to determine:

• What type of plan is necessary

• The most crucial systems and business units

• Who is responsible for declaring that a disruption has occurred

• A process for locating and communicating with employees

• A process for assisting employees with their needs

• How employees will communicate with one another

• A plan for how employees will continue doing their jobs

At its heart, BCDR is about constant communication.

–CIO magazine

The best BCDR plan evolves out of collaboration and ensures communication continuity. 1

BCDR isn’t a one-time event.

The BCDR plan requires reviews & updates, especially in the case ofthe following:

• Infrastructure changes

• New application is added

• New server is introduced

• New technologies are used

• Merger or acquisition

• Internal expansion

• New go-to-market strategies

BCDR planning is an on-going process.2

• Ensure that employees can remotely access servers.

• Facilitate employees’ remote access to their desktop environments through DaaS (Desktop as a Service).

• Leverage the BYOD culture so that employees are “pre-provisioned” with disaster-ready access devices.

BCDR is a plan for the people, so make sure it’s a plan for your people:

BCDR plans must be person-focused.3

Cloud virtualization makes BCDR much more simple.

It’s not a surprise, then, that the global market for cloud computing is forecasted to reach $241 billion by 2020.

Cloud virtualization is a practical, cost-effective, and reliable cornerstone of most organizations’ BCDR plans:

• A business’s systems, applications, and data are run on servers operated by third-party providers

• Businesses can access computing resources on demand—even in the case of a disaster

• Cloud architectures offer options like timely restores or hotsite failovers to remote data centers

Explore how the BCDR plan can bestemploy cloud solutions.4

The problem?

Internet service providers and competitive local exchange carriers may operate using leased infrastructure from the same incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC). When the ILEC network fails, so do the services of CLECs utilizing the same network.

The solution?

Choose a provider—such as a cable provider—whose infrastructure is separate from the telephone company networks at the local last mile, metro, and regional levels.

This enables genuine network diversity.

Smart BCDR plans will include a provider thatoffers—and owns—last-mile connectivity.5

1. Outline objectives of the plan with employees.

2. Review the plan, distribute copies of it, and identify essential employees tasked with taking immediate action.

3. Schedule testing of the plan—either announced or unannounced.

4. Execute the plan during a false scenario. Ensure that employees go through each step of the plan as if the scenario were real.

5. Study lessons learned and make changes accordingly.

6. If changes are made, retest.

The effectiveness of a BCDR plan is only known when it’s tested.

Finally, and most importantly, test the BCDR plan.6

For more information on Time Warner Cable Business Classand BCDR solutions, see

http://goo.gl/sCB8kn.