Business Continuity Planning and the Need for Disaster Recovery

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Business Continuity Planning and the Need for Disaster Recovery

The sweeping number of reasons that justify a communications disaster recovery plan (DR) are just as diverse as the range of companies which fail to implement one. A retail service provider for example may be unable to process EFTPOS transactions should their fixed line service fail; while a mine site might need to initiate a shutdown procedure due to OHS policies should the sites primary form of connectivity fail. Both of these highlighted examples differ in terms of application, however the implication on cost and loss of revenue are equally apparent, relative to the size and type of operation.

Retail: Cost and lost revenue implications calculation.

Referencing the NAB SME survey which captures firms with annual turnovers between $2 and $10 million, we base our example calculation on a SME having an annual turnover of $5 million.  With cashless transactions becoming the norm, we use the conservative assumption that the SME in our example will have 40% of its transactions as cashless.

40% of $5 million annual turnover = $2 million.  2 million dollars divided by 365 is the equivalent of $5,479 worth of cashless transactions in any one day.

Mining: Cost and lost revenue implications calculation.

For this example, let’s assume an outage of two days occurs, based on the complications associated with location and the time it would take for the service provider to get to site and rectify the problem.

5000 tons per day output (Iron Ore) with a conservative sale price of $45 per ton = 10,000 tons multiplied by the $45 per ton = $450,000 for each of day of the outage.

Reference http://costs.infomine.com/costdatacenter/miningcostmodel.aspx

So, the question is, why are modern firms ranging from SME’s to Global Enterprises failing to acknowledge or plan for an occasion which poses the threat of a significant disruption either to their ability to trade or produce? Simplistically, it comes down to three factors, 1) mindset, 2) perceived complexity and, 3) cost assumptions.

Orion can assist with 2) and 3) and following a consultation, we will set your mind at ease.

Perceived complexity with regards to integrating the backup link with the existing network infrastructure is a hurdle easily cleared once discussions reveal the simplicity of the solution required.  The final solution will see the disaster recovery service kicking in automatically, as soon as the primary link fails, creating a seamless failover solution for an interruption free business workflow. The VSAT solution will replicate the existing network and will provide a cost-effective solution independent of the existing infrastructure.

In relation to the cost assumptions, it is worth noting that satellite is now a very affordable option, all the more so given Orion’s end to end ownership of its network (including the satellite itself). This enables Orion to tailor a plan to suit any specific request. The cost of the required hardware is in most cases, less than $5,000, the Opex is minimised because the system spends the majority of its time in standby mode

Based on the fact that the solution can be easily incorporated within an existing network, foregoing any service disruptions in the process and the cost of doing so is negligible in comparison to the cost of failing to do so, the question becomes why aren’t businesses protecting their operations?

Orion has a number of clients with DR solutions in place, including a number who have had to activate the solution on occasion – we know that they sleep well at night.

Contact Orion today to discuss options and solutions for an always available emergency DR system which will give you the peace of mind you deserve.

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