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.

The Holiday Retail Season is fast approaching, and smart businesses are preparing themselves to be able to better compete for the consumer’s dollar. The NPD Group has released their 8th annual survey, and the outlook for this holiday season indicates that consumers will be spending less, which they say reflects the overall state of the economy.  However, there are various factors that will come into play, and the top 10 items consumers intend to buy as gifts remain apparel, toys, movies, books, electronics, accessories, music, video games, fragrances and food.  The National Retail Foundation has released its eHoliday survey results, and they indicate that they expect many consumers may spend more of their money shopping online, indicating just how competitive the holiday retail season will be this year.

Black Friday, of course, will continue to kick off the biggest shopping weekend of the season.  Retailers need to be ready this year to handle these transactions securely and efficiently.  Consumers expect a fast transaction, and don’t want to wait for their credit card to be authenticated over a dial-up network as they stand at the register.  Stores with MPLS VPN connections from the right partner will have an advantage, as they are able to more quickly and more securely process the transactions their customers are making.  Not only will they improve their bottom line by saving money over those competitors who continue to use old-fashioned networks, but by working with MegaPath, they can be connected to a PCI compliant network (pdf) that  processes transactions over a secure payment extranet, directly connecting retailers with credit, debit, gift and loyalty card processors.

The bottom line is that retailers are looking at a competitive holiday retail season, and it is important they head into this busiest time of the year with a great game plan, great partners and secure solutions that will improve their cost position.  By working with MegaPath, they will have a partner with many years of experience in the retail sector, who can bring to the table Nationwide Broadband Coverage, who will serve as a Single Point of Contact, who has a Comprehensive Product Set, providing Secure Information Transport and a Managed Implementation, with 24/7 Proactive Customer Support, all with Best-in-Class Service Level Assurances.  MegaPath Sales & Marketing teams also assist franchisors with communication programs designed to help ensure network implementations are consistent across the franchisee organization.

Most people, if asked, could tell you that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a busy time for the retail industry, with everyone doing holiday shopping.  But did you know that Halloween, the day before Thanksgiving, and Superbowl Sunday are incredibly busy days for the Pizza industry?  Papa John’s tells us these are the three busiest days of the year for them.  So, as you can imagine, it is crucial to these businesses that they stay connected to their customers on these days.  This year, Papa John’s will have more then 20,000 drivers  out delivering over 900,000 Pizzas on Halloween! 

In this day and age, Pizza is ordered on-line as often as it is ordered on the phone.  These on-line orders are received at the Papa John’s website, and then are sent to the local restaurant over the WAN, where the Pizza is prepared for fast and fresh delivery.  They know that if that on-line experience goes well, they will see return on-line orders.  These orders are only convenient and profitable if they get through!  To make sure this happens, they know that they need an infrastructure that can handle the dramatic increases in ordering activity they see at these critical times, and that they need to work with a partner who can handle the load, and keep them connected to their customers.

Any industry that sees seasonal spikes (such as retailers between Thanksgiving and Christmas, or candy and flower vendors on Mother’s Day) can benefit from implementing a network that can scale to meet demand, while providing secure, continuous communications that keeps them connected to the customers and partners.

Having a fully managed solution allows these companies to focus on their core competency (such as delivering truly  great Pizza), and not worry about keeping thousands and thousands of sites connected during a busy time. MegaPath’s customers know that we are here 24-7-365 making sure things are going smoothly, and they know they only have one call to make, no matter where in the country their business is located. 

Well, I need to get home.  The Pizza I ordered on-line will be arriving in about 20 minutes, and I don’t want to keep my Papa John’s delivery driver waiting.