The MegaPath Connectivity Blog

It the time of year when we start to see more and more lists.  Santa is finalizing the naughty and nice list, people will be working on lists of top songs and movies of the year, and children are preparing lists of what presents they would like to receive this holiday season.  If you run a business, I can think of one very important list you should take a look at, and that is the MegaPath Business Continuity Planning checklist. 

Businesses need to be ready to handle any contingency that could affect their continuity, especially at this time of year, when so much business is transacted.  Whether the issue is the H1N1 virus, a bridge disrupting your employees ability to get to work, or a natural disaster that effects a large geographic area, you need to plan ahead so that you know you can keep in contact with your partners, suppliers and customers no matter what.

To help you be ready, the friendly business continuity experts here are at MegaPath have put together the following list, which you can use to make sure you are ready to keep operating, no matter what.

MegaPath’s Business Continuity Planning Checklist

Designate a team: An effective business continuity plan should involve input from Management, the Chief Security Officer, the IT department, Web developer and Human Resources. These key departments have the ability to ensure the company runs smoothly in times of crisis, while taking into account the needs of their employees. 

Identify key personnel: Determine which executives and employees are critical to operating the business (and supporting customers) that need to have access to key systems and information at all time. A business continuity plan must ensure these employees receive the highest levels of support, even during the most disruptive events.

Plan for spikes: Before an emergency occurs, businesses need to plan ahead for increased network bandwidth and secured remote access requirements. Implementing scalable solutions will enable organizations to add increased user licenses to the VPN and Internet connections in real-time.

Choose a flexible secure communications solution: There are many to choose from, but a SSL VPN is one of the leading solutions to provide flexible, remote access, which is essential to any business continuity plan. This technology enables access – via a Web browser – to sensitive corporate and customer data that exists on an enterprise network from remote locations. The SSL solution should be redundant and scalable to account for the increased spike in traffic, as well as integrated into the overall Disaster Recovery plan. 

Create a single entry point:  Create a business continuity portal for employees and partners. If the company has an Intranet, this site becomes command central from which employees can access information – HR policies, emergency contacts and a “click here to access SSL VPN” feature. As this Intranet would become the main source of information, it is vital to ensure that it is fast and reliable for employees no matter where they are located.

Coordinate a secondary back-up site: Should the primary site be unavailable, companies should have a real-time mirror of data housed at a secure facility. If configured correctly, organization’s can provide an automatic failover between locations, so that any forwarding is seamless to employees as they conduct business with no impact to productivity.

Replicate non-real time data: In the event that the secondary site is unavailable, organizations should plan for multiple layers of failover.  If users cannot access real-time data via the back-up location, a third- tier facility with updates, but not real-time data, can provide most of the necessary tools to keep the business operational until the secondary facilities come back online.

Ensure access from any device: With mobile devices and air cards now permeating the executive suite and key employees, IT departments can leverage these tools to ensure complete connectivity in times of emergencies. However, organizations must first conduct a thorough review of remote access policies in order to protect the data these devices are accessing.

Pre-arrange “on-the-fly” meeting capabilities: In the event of an office closure, employees still need to communicate internally or with external parties (i.e. suppliers, customers). Providing Web and audio conferencing to remote locations and offsite workers keeps the communication lines open, especially with those unaffected by the office closure.

Review number of sites and VPN gateways: Businesses need to have multiple channels for employees to gain access in case of fail over. Conducting a yearly audit will provide a complete picture of your network and the ability to address problem areas before a disaster strikes.

Test, test and retest:Typically, companies today test their Disaster Recovery facility (ies) and remote access policies about once a year. These “fire drills’ enable companies to see how the current system is working, especially when employees are accessing information from remote locations (i.e. from home, a relative’s house, and hotel). Once complete, those in Management, IT and Human Resources can modify their business continuity plan accordingly.

Back on August 3rd, the Commonwealth of Virginia sponsored a ‘Telework Day’, and it was a huge success.  Over 4000 people telecommuted , and for 22% of them this was the first time they had ever done so, according to a report by Telework Exchange.  The report estimate thats over 155,000 miles weren’t driven that day, which means that a lot less pollution got into the environment as well.  Respondents to the survey also indicated they were able to get more done by teleworking, and both workers and managers reported they were pleased with results of the event.

Your business should look into telecommuting as well, to realize the cost savings and see the productivity gains that are available.  Don’t forget that a telecommuter plan can also help your company with business continuity, in times of natural disaster or during a health crisis.  It also doesn’t hurt that you can generate more than one type of Green with telecommuting.  Make sure you speak to the right partner when developing your program for connected workers.

In today’s business world, staying well connected is critical to the success of most enterprises, small or large.  The loss of connectivity for a mission critical application can be very costly, and is to be avoided, and businesses are advised to do what they can to maximize uptime.  For this reason, it is always good to have a backup plan.

In the simplest terms, this means that your business, small or large, located in a single store or office, or located in thousands of locations across the country, should look into a redundant network connection.  There are many options available to businesses today to make sure they stay connected to their customers, suppliers and partners, allowing you to choose the redundant connectivity with the proper bandwidth and cost to meet your needs.

If your store is connected with a DSL line, you should consider purchasing a dial backup plan, to keep those transactions moving in times when broadband connectivity goes down.  If your small business is making use of a T1 line, you could consider also having a DSL or Cable Internet connection available to supply business continuity in the event of an outage.  And, of course, there is always wireless access, for a very redundant connection that will stay up even if the local wireline network is physically cut.

The costs of these solutions are likely lower than you think, and can provide vital communications continuity, allowing revenue to flow into your business, even if a construction crew with a backhoe takes out some conduits while repairing a street.

Being offline these days can be very costly, so having that backup connection just makes good sense.

Wired has an good story about how we are currently living ‘The Summer of Broadband.’  Specifically, the story speaks to the focus the new administration, through the FCC, is placing on America’s IT and communications infrastructure. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has been busy this summer, meeting with just about everyone to discuss the development of the National Broadband Plan.  He has been quoted as saying that Broadband is this generations National Highway System.  With the various stimulus work underway, and the upcoming workshops on broadband, there is definitely a push to more widely implement the transformational technologies that can increase productivity, lower costs and increase our ability to communicate.

Now is a good time to review the way that your business is taking advantage of broadband technologies.  Whether you need to process payment transactions, lower telephony costs, secure your critical data, get closer to your customers and suppliers, or keep your employees more productive, it is in your best interest to review and update your technology initiatives.  One call to the right partner  and you can get the help you need examining which solutions can both lower your costs and increase your profits.

I always did like summer.

NetworkWorld is reporting that Cisco says it has saved $277M by having employees work from home.  Their internal study found that not only did having employees work remotely save money, but it increased productivity and the happiness of the work force.

The company estimated that about 20,000 employees telework 2 days of the week, and about 60% of those spend the time saved by telecommuting working.

You can find out more about telecommuting, and how it can save your business money while increasing productivity,  at Telecommuter.com