Take a moment and think about your business and if you are prepared for a disaster. If you are like most business owners or managers you have some form of backup and maybe even a basic disaster recovery plan. While this is a start, recent big disasters around the world have proven that a simple backup is not enough. If you feel that your business is under prepared, there are steps you can take to fix that.

Here are five tips to help ensure that your business is fully ready for the next disaster.

1. Backup everything
While it can be tempting to only backup the most important data and programs, it can be a chore to identify what is deemed to be important. Who knows, a file that is non-essential today may become essential in the future. If it is lost due to a disaster, this could prove to be a problem.

It would be a good idea to look for a backup solution that covers all data and programs. But, having a full backup solution isn’t enough, you also need to ensure that recovery is easy and can be implemented quickly.

2. Look into tiered recovery
Establishing a tiered recovery method means identifying the value and importance of existing systems and utilizing a recovery method that meets needs. It would be a good idea to identify mission critical systems and adopt a recovery method that can have these systems up and running as quickly as possible. From there you can tier different systems and match a recovery method. For example, archived files are likely not needed right away, so they can be recovered at a later date, using a slower recovery method.

3. Keep copies of all keys and licenses
With the amount of software and programs businesses use on a daily basis growing, it would be a good idea to keep copies of the activation keys (the string of digits and letters you enter to activate the full version of software) and purchased licenses.

While many of these are now distributed electronically through email, there are still software developers that distribute keys by mail or with the physical install CDs. If you lose the codes in a fire, you will be out of luck and have to purchase the software again. This is an extra charge you likely don’t want.

4. Pick the right recovery locations
The best recovery plans offer numerous backup solutions which are hosted in different locations. A good provider knows this and will utilize data storage centers as far apart as possible. If you choose to backup your own data, it would not be a good idea to keep the backups in the office.

Similarly, if you are preparing for a big disaster, you likely have physical locations that you can move to if your main business location is damaged or destroyed. Optimal plans will have more than one location identified, and have them as far apart as possible. This will minimize the chances of losing full operations and increase your business’s ability to bounce back quicker.

5. Match your recovery plan to your business
There are so many different backup and recovery options that it can be tough to pick one. The best course of action is to look at your systems and how they work. If you operate strictly offline, a cloud based backup solution likely isn’t your best bet. Or, if you operate fully in the cloud, a physical tape or hard disk backup may not be optimal.

If you are looking to beef up, or establish a disaster recovery plan, try working with an IT partner like us, who can help you find the optimal solution that can meet your needs and budget.

Operating a business is never easy. There is always something that threatens your business, and many disasters are simply beyond your control. These disasters are a part of business, and owners need to be prepared for almost anything. For many companies, the only way to prepare for adverse times is by developing a Business Continuity Plan.

Some companies are hesitant to adopt a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) because of the perceived costs and complexity involved. We won’t deny that plans are usually on the complex side, but there are good reasons as to why your company should adopt one. Here’s five.

1. Your business will be seen as more valuable
Banks, venture capitalists and other investors tend to air on the side of caution, and as such will usually look to businesses that appear to be stable as more viable investment vehicles. Companies with a BCP are often seen to be more valuable, as they can address diverse situations better than those without. As a result, they will make the investor more money over time.

2. Compliance
Big companies in a number of industries have had continuity plans for years and many have started to look for suppliers/vendors with continuity plans. Beyond that, some industries and government bodies have made BCP a requirement. If you are a vendor, supplier or even in specific industries, it is a good idea to have one in order for business to run smoothly.

3. Potentially lower insurance premiums
Operating a business is filled with risks, and business managers are often looking for ways to minimize it. One way includes the purchase of insurance – many industries and situations require you to carry it. Generally, insurance providers will give more favorable rates to companies that take steps to minimize risk. A solid BCP will go a long way in showcasing how risk-averse your company is, which could lead to lower rates or at the very least, stable rates.

4. More efficient communication
Developing a BCP involves constant, company-wide communication in order for it to be successful. For many businesses, this involves collaboration between team members who don’t normally work together on a regular basis.

A BCP also fosters communication plans during disasters, both within the organization – most employees have a role, and will need to work together to pull through – and outside – customers, suppliers and other stakeholders will be contacting you. If your employees know how to communicate what needs to be done, effects of the disaster will be minimized.

5. Survival
Recent natural disasters around the globe have highlighted that businesses without a plan will most likely be forced out of business. Having a BCP will minimize the chances of this, while preparing your business for survival.

If you are looking to implement a business continuity plan, or improve on an already existing one, please contact us today. We may have a solution for you.

When it comes to your business there are many dangers that could negatively impact your bottom line, or even force you out of business. As such, it's a good idea to have a plan in place to help keep your business operational during any disaster. This strategy is commonly referred to as a Business Continuity Plan, and is something that companies will benefit from looking into.

While a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) can be complicated, and comprised of many different objectives, the main reason companies include this in their business strategy is to build up resilience. Disasters of many kinds can result in either lost data, sales or even business. While a BCP won't prevent large-scale disasters, it will help your business recover quicker.

When looking at how resilient your business is, there are three main aspects to consider.

RTO RTO stands for Recovery Time Objective and is the time period from the beginning of the disaster to recovery of operations. This number, or time period, will be different for every company. For example, companies that operate online stores will likely have a short RTO, as they rely on 24/7 uptime to conduct business and sales.

In general the RTO is an objective, one that employees and stakeholders should strive for. Having one can help planners identify potential problem areas along with critical functions that must be recovered and any preparations that will be necessary. If a business does not address, or identify a set time to recovery they could see an unnecessary increase in recovery times, or worse lost profits.

RPO RPO stands for Recovery Point Objective and represents the amount of data a business is willing, or can afford, to lose. The easiest way to figure this out is to look at your systems and think about how much data or information you personally can lose before being unable to do your job. From there, you can work out the frequency with which you should back up your systems.

For example: If you figure that you can lose a day's worth of data, then your backup should be done on a daily basis. If you currently back up your data or systems once a week, and figure you can only miss a day, then RPO helps you realize this is not enough and that you need a system or plan that better meets your needs.

The difference between RTO and RPO is that RTO is a broad process that covers the whole Business Continuity timeline, while RPO is focused on data and backup.

ROI When looking at different Business Continuity systems, it is always a good idea to calculate the ROI, or Return on Investment. You can calculate the cost of the integrating any plan, time to implement and recovery, expected value it can bring your business and avoided losses. This will give you a pretty good picture on whether current systems are strong enough, and if new alternatives are better.

By figuring out the time you expect to recover, how often you should back up and the total ROI of proposed, or existing, systems you can gain a clearer picture of how resilient your company is.

If you're looking to make your company a little more resilient, why not get in touch with us? We are happy to sit down and discuss your options with you.

In a recent blog I responded to an article in which the role of MSP’s was being discussed and debated. In that original article it was stated that : “.. [an MSP's] mission is to convince customers that the personal relationships, intimate knowledge, and trusted adviser roles you bring are worth the little bit extra they might have to pay..”. In recent weeks this has turned out to be so true as I work with both existing and prospective clients. Lets look at a couple of examples.

Going Mobile

The first example is a prospect I’m talking to and who is in the process of finding a new IT provider. I’ve known the company for some time and attended networking events with the Director. She purchased a new iPad Mini last Friday and so called her current provider (you know, the one trying to retain her IT business) and said “can you help me setup my iPad to work with my office email system” – a sensible and reasonable request.

The response was “urm…. we don’t support Apple products….. if we can make it work….. and we are not sure….. then its charged at £40 per 15mins”. This isn’t really the response you want and so Abussi got a call, in desperation, to see if we might be able to help. Well, long story short is that although we don’t have any current knowledge of this clients IT systems, we did a little IT trickery to find out 4 of the 5 key things they needed to know to setup the iPad (their password was the 5th) and within an hour it was working. They were impressed and of course I doubt the current provider is going to have their contract renewed !

Domain or not a Domain ?

The second example is rather more straightforward and involves a current (recently acquired) client with whom I was chatting about Domain Name Hosting. Many businesses don’t really understand this service and so at Abussi we provide it as an included part of our monthly management fee then take full responsibility for it, as outlined in our recent Vendor Management blog .

We wanted to move their domain hosting over to our platform to make them ‘standard’ as per our other clients. However, while planning this move we looked at all the invoices they had regarding hosting and found something odd. We identified that the client already has their domain name within a personal Fasthosts account, which they pay for and which only they have access to, yet a 3rd party company is charging them £120 per annum (for the last few years) for ‘Domain Name Management Services’.

This £120 per annum invoice had been paid as the client didn’t really know what it was and didn’t want to ‘not pay’ in case it created a problem. After Abussi had looked at this and understood it was for services that the 3rd party could not actually be providing, we challenged it and a full refund was provided.

Too Busy, Need Help

It’s clear that in these two cases the client was not at fault. The client was seeking support and advice on their complex IT systems and in the case of the iPad they were not forthcoming from the provider who saw the chance to simply charge money for some time spent trying to help. In the second case it was an example of how a business owner with too much to manage day-2-day and too little IT knowledge can easily overlook or misunderstand the fees or costs coming into the business for technology services.

Neither of these are criticisms of the business or business owner but show how a good MSP can “..convince customers that the personal relationships, intimate knowledge, and trusted adviser roles you bring are worth the little bit extra they might have to pay..”. In both of these cases I think we did just that.

If you want to explore the benefits of an MSP relationship rather than an old fashioned IT Support relationship then come and talk to us today : Why Abussi ?

Here’s a question. If your email suddenly went down, who would you turn to? The IT company that looks after your servers? Your broadband provider? Or your hosting service? How many of you reading this will be honest and admit that you don’t really understand the difference between those last three services?

Its too important

How much business could you lose until the problem was resolved? And whose valuable time would be spent sorting it out? Like most businesses these days, you probably rely heavily on your IT and communications. When they’re working well, it’s great. But when they don’t, it can be a nightmare. And an expensive one, in terms of lost time and opportunity.

On top of this, IT is interdependent as never before. Office and mobile devices are all increasingly expected to work together. Yet most businesses have separate supplier arrangements for all these – with the high risk of different parties passing responsibility when things go wrong.

Get your vendors managed

This is where the Vendor Management concept comes in. One client described it to me recently as having just one throat to choke. And it’s that simple. By giving a company the responsibility of managing the relationships with all your different vendors, you just have one number to call – for your computers, landlines, mobiles, copiers, printers, website and email host, broadband, networks and so on.

Vendor Management is traditionally an add on service that’s offered by your IT Support or Managed Services Provider as they have a better overall view of the disparate services working together. An example could be  that they might be so concerned about the quality of a broadband provider being used by a client that they recommend a change. By monitoring reliability, they can identify potential problems before they get really serious.

One throat to choke

So vendor management gives you a single point of contact for all vendor issues. It keeps your entire IT infrastructure regularly reviewed, managed and refreshed. And it allows you to concentrate on what you do best – leaving the rest to an outsourced partner. We have a number of examples in our Case Study section

If you want to explore the benefits of Vendor Management as part of a wider Managed Services agreement then come and talk to us today : Why Abussi ?

The Boy Scouts are famous for their motto, 'Be Prepared'. And many live up to it. In an interview, Robert Baden-Powell, Founder of the Boy Scouts was once asked what they should be prepared for. His answer, "Anything". Companies should take this to heart, and always be prepared for every eventuality. One way this can be done is through Business Continuity - a plan or system that helps businesses get through disasters relatively unscathed. If you're looking to adopt a continuity plan, there's a few things you should prepare beforehand.

Here's four questions you should answer when looking into adopting a Business Continuity plan.

1. What systems need to be recovered first? A good idea is to request each department/role list their essential systems and rank them in the order they need them back online in order to do their jobs. From here, you can compare answers and rank them in priority. For example, If all roles say they need Internet connection back online first, you know that the Internet is the first system that needs to be recovered.

2. What do we need to assure customers of stability? For the majority of businesses, the customer is the lifeblood. However, most customers will only stick around for a limited amount of time before going to a competitor if your business can't meet their needs. To keep customers loyal during a time of disaster, you need to prove you are either stable, or working to get there. Some examples of this could be a backup site with basic functionality that can take the place of your main website if it goes down.

3. What do business partners require? Your business partners are just as important as your customers and are often the link between the two. With partners, you often have set requirements that you need to meet in order to continue order fulfillment and shipment. You need to be aware of what these are and the related systems. After all, how are you going to get your product to your customers?

4. Are there any contractual requirements with vendors? Businesses that work with suppliers or vendors often have contractual obligations such as payment due on a certain date, or a set product order volume to fulfill the contract. As with business partners, you need to be clear on what these obligations are, and how you meet them. For example, if you pay a supplier on the 10th of every month, most will expect payment on the 10th, regardless of if you are operational or not.

Once you have the answers you needed you can take a step back and try to come up with a timeline of how long continuity actions should take and what your priorities are. From here, you can draft an actual plan, or look for vendors that can work with your systems and provide a continuity plan or service that meets your needs.

If you are looking for a business continuity system for your business please give us a call, we may have a solution that fits with your business.

This blog is the result of my online reading and findings presented by many companies, vendors, commentators and Managed Service Providers (MSP’s) who offer a wealth of information on IT related subjects. A recent article from IT Channel Insight offers an interesting debate about Cloud Services and specifically how one of their guest bloggers, Casper Manes, feels that Cloud Services may present a risk to MSP’s.

The Issue

The article presents an interesting dilemma for clients and MSP’s alike. Cloud Services are presented as simple, easy and self managing – which for MSP’s is something that presents a possible risk in that clients might simply go off and purchase them independently and no longer see value in the MSP. This is certainly a possibility but I think that from my experience  Cloud Services can be used to replace certain aspects of a clients IT solution that used to be very ‘hardware heavy’ – but which still require expertise to manage as a whole on behalf of the client.

Not as easy as it looks

Lets take Hosted Email as a simple example. Office 365 and other similar services offer the chance to get your email moved to a hosted platform with ease. Well, that’s partly true but has anyone who is non technical tried to change an MX record ? Or perhaps like many of our clients do they even know what or where their domain name is held ? This will require MSP services to make work, as will the migration of legacy information and management of the whole migration. It’s a service that can be provided and charged for by the MSP and ongoing management of the solution charged for long term. Even better, save the client the trouble of even paying for the mailbox(s) themselves and re-sell a solution with some margin.

More than just IT

In recent months I have been asked by clients a whole variety of questions that to them are IT related but to me were not as clear cut. I have been asked to help them find Time Management software, to assist in putting a spreadsheet into Google Apps for multi-user access, to offer domain migration advice and also to review a clients telecoms services to reduce complexity. The Channel Insight article does contain a sentiment that I agree with wholeheartedly – namely that “.. [an MPS's] mission is to convince customers that the personal relationships, intimate knowledge, and trusted advisor roles you bring are worth the little bit extra they might have to pay..”

Bigger picture

Many clients feel that IT is getting easier and therefore its something that they can do themselves and save money on internal or external IT providers. Well, Accountancy software has become simpler to use in the past 10 years but do companies feel less need for professional accountants to supervise their books each year ? You can get much more legal information online now but do companies feel able to take on a legal case independently of a lawyer or solicitor ? Cloud Services are just one aspect of what should be an MSP’s wide range of skills and services that they provide to clients. They can be seen as a threat, but in my mind they allow the MSP to offer ‘big company’ IT services to smaller clients and in that way retain more business in the long term.

If you want to explore the benefits of Managed Services then come and talk to us today : Why Abussi ?

IT Support has always been the key term businesses use to describe the service they need to ‘make the computers work’. However, as IT moves forward its no longer a matter of just fixing the computer(s) but also managing the security, SPAM filters, broadband, remote workers, VoIP and a multitude of other services that impact your IT systems. That’s why a new term has emerged in the world of IT – Managed Services – a term that simply is an updated reference to IT Support but with an eye on the fact that its now about managing a wealth of IT services as a whole.

The importance of stability

Let’s start with a question. How much inconvenience would you suffer – and how much business would be at risk – if your system failed and you didn’t have adequate back-up? Or if your security was breached? Or if your email went down, even for just a couple of days? And how much would it cost to put it right on an ad hoc, emergency basis?

Well, we’ve seen it happen far too often to companies who weren’t protected – with disruption to the business, and disproportionate costs. And that’s why a managed services programme can make so much sense.

Think about your car for a minute. Regular servicing and preventive maintenance keeps it running smoothly. You wouldn’t wait for it to break down and leave you stranded. It’s just the same with IT – only even more important.

What’s the SP on MSP’s ?

So what are managed services? What does a Managed Services Provider, or MSP actually do? Well each month, they examine and check every aspect of your network and system, including key areas such as security, back-up, usage levels and operational effectiveness. You get clear and detailed reports of what’s been tested, work completed and pending, and any potential problems that need attention before they become serious.

In addition, you get levels of support that normally only large companies enjoy. Unlimited telephone support, via a dedicated helpline. Unlimited remote monitoring and support – with links from your server to a monitoring dashboard. And unlimited engineer support on site, if this becomes necessary.

Insure against failure

For some, it helps to think of it as an insurance policy that buys you peace of mind, confidence in your IT operations and systems that are smooth-running and problem-free. And most importantly, it’s an insurance policy that buys business uptime and continuity, which are very hard to regain quickly if serious IT problems occur. DTI statistics show that 70% of businesses don’t trade again after a catastrophic IT failure including virus infection or hard disk failures on the server.

Some find it hard to believe that MSP need to be this proactive, instead thinking that the IT systems just sort themselves out. Others struggle to change from the old break and fix way of doing things, or muddle through with the false economy of IT being done on a part time basis by an enthusiastic amateur.

Real benefits

But clients who are using managed services know for themselves that it really is the way forward – taking away the burden of day-to-day IT management, and enabling them to really focus on running their business and improve strategic direction as they develop and grow. We have a number of examples in our Case Study section

Additional to Managed Services, many MSP’s can provide Vendor Management – an add on that puts the MSP in the firing line, not you, by managing not just the IT systems but the technology that touches them. This can cover your telecommunications, both fixed and mobile, along with cabling, broadband, copiers and printers.

If you want to explore the benefits of Managed Services then come and talk to us today : Why Abussi ?

Superstorm Sandy, the recent storm that pummeled the Eastern US, brought with it a lot of lessons for all affected. For those in the IT industry the most important lesson was that their disaster preparedness may not be as robust as they thought. Many businesses will react to this by wanting to be better prepared for major disasters. This is positive action but it is important to stress that there are also a million little issues that could pose a bigger threat to your organization. One of those is password management – who is in control of the important passwords.

Search for Terry Childs online and you’ll find a number of articles about a former Network Administrator for the city of San Francisco who is currently in jail for supposedly doing his job. His job, as a network administrator, was to manage the city’s network. When he was asked by his boss for the passwords to critical parts of the network, he refused on the grounds that the request went against the established network policy.

Issues like this: One employee or vendor in control of vital passwords, can pose a big problem to companies, especially during times of disaster. Imagine if you work with an administrator who is based in New York, and they lost power during Sandy. What could you do if your network crashed, or you needed access to your system and someone else has all the passwords?

The most crucial factor is you shouldn’t trust one person or organization with passwords to vital systems. We don’t mean personal passwords to systems, we mean passwords to vital systems, like servers or Internet connections. If one person has the passwords, there’s just too much risk. If they are disgruntled, they have the power to do some serious damage, and if they are injured or are no longer alive, you’ll face untold amounts in lost profit, and fees in recovering passwords and information.

There are a number of things you can do to mitigate problems like these.

• Keep a password list - It could be a good idea to keep a physical list of the more important passwords. This is an important document, so it’s a good idea to not leave this one lying around. If you have a safety deposit box or safe in the office you can put the list here.
• Set passwords to the position, not the employee - Many companies will often give passwords to one person who will be in charge of these. When they advance, or if they switch roles, they will often take a password with them. Instead, look at organizing this a different way around: Assign a password to the position rather than an individual so that when they leave the person filling their role is given this password instead.
• Assign a person to be in charge of passwords – This is a good idea, especially if you work with Managed Service Providers. A person of authority within your organization should be the main contact person, and they should have copies of all passwords given to outside companies.
• Change passwords regularly - To avoid having employees steal things it’s a good idea to change your passwords on a regular basis. If an employee leaves a position and is in charge of an important password, you should take steps to change this scenario even if you trust the person.
• Create the right policy – If you are going to share passwords, or have a limited number of people who know them, it’s a good idea to create a policy that clearly defines: what position has access to what; what happens when someone leaves; how to recover passwords; how many backups will be kept; how and when the password is to be shared. Basically you want to ensure you aren’t caught flat footed. With employees, confidentiality agreements that explicitly state what they can and can’t share and the consequences of breaching the policy should also be clearly defined and followed.
• Pick who to trust - Important passwords shouldn’t be shared with everyone, and you should take steps to vet the trustworthiness of the person or company you will be giving passwords to. If you have an established sharing process, and a vendor you’re considering working with is pushing a policy that is different from yours, it may be a good idea to look for someone whose policies are closer to yours, or who can work around your policies.

If you are in the unfortunate position of not having the passwords to your system, it’s a good idea to get in touch with IT professionals like us, as we are often able to recover systems and passwords, or at the very least, reset them. After you recover your systems, it’s a good idea to test for vulnerabilities, especially if the last person in charge had a tendency to not share information. We can help with this and any other concerns with password management and recovery, so please contact us if you would like to learn more.

Survival is an instinct nearly every creature has hardwired into them. You can argue that many managers or business owners feel this instinct twofold, as they fight to physically survive as well as for their business to survive. Because of this, Disaster Recovery (DR) – the act of ensuring your systems can be recovered after a disaster – has become an integral part of the survival of a business.

Here are four ways to ensure your DR plan is sufficient and company is disaster-ready.

Are your systems compliant?
Many DR systems are licensed, and it’s important to ensure that these licences are both up-to-date and supported by all necessary backup systems. If you’ve added or changed components like a server or software, but not upgraded the relevant licenses, chances are your systems won’t be covered when disaster strikes. If this is the case, when you go to retrieve the backup, you’ll just get a license error; your data can’t be retrieved.

Another issue with DR software is that it’s often not used, lying dormant for years. You should regularly check and ensure the software meets modern compliance standards, is up-to-date and licenses have not expired. You should also be aware of how the software you use integrates and interacts with the DR software. For example, an upgrade to a new email server, may not communicate well with your DR software.

What’s the status of your backup server?
As most DR plans usually involve a separate server from day-to-day servers, it’s important to ensure that they are functioning properly, usually by having the vendor test them. It’s also equally important to communicate with the vendors or manufacturers of the servers to ensure that the correct software/hardware licenses are in place and cover the function. If they aren’t, you could risk legal action or being fined.

Test regularly
Regular tests are an integral part of a properly functioning DR plan. You need to conduct tests on at least a yearly basis to ensure all systems involved in the DR plan function well. From these tests, observe any function that performed poorly, or not at all, and take steps to fix or replace it.

Work with a knowledgeable partner
DR plans and systems can be a complicated, almost messy aspect of business. While this may be, DR is crucial to the survival of a business after a disaster, and shouldn’t be treated lightly. To get it right liaise with DR experts to create and maintain a plan that meets your needs.

If you would like help with either implementing or improving your DR plan, please contact us, we may have a solution for you.