Choosing the Right Business Continuity Solution
The new era of the customer, application availability and data protection have become mission critical requirements. The processes and tools required to protect those applications have evolved.
Today there are a myriad of technologies offering different approaches to data protection, application availability, high availability and disaster recovery. These technologies typically have at least one thing in common: they are IT-based solutions that are built to protect IT assets. When it comes to business continuity, it is imperative that choosing the right solution is a business decision based on the level of risk and disruption that can be tolerated by the different parts of the business.
For example, email is ubiquitous and preserving access to email through any type of disruption should be a priority, with 100% uptime the goal. Database applications such as sales order processing or online collaboration and content management may also require 100% uptime as the impact of downtime will be too much of a risk to the business. Other applications, such as purchase order processing, may demand no data loss, but a recovery time in the region of one hour may be acceptable. There may also be applications that are non-critical, where data can be recreated from original sources, or that are low risk and downtime measured in hours or even days is acceptable.
Business continuity requirements will vary according to business type and function. There is unlikely to be a “one size fits all” solution for all applications used in business.
Ultimately the risk to the business will be the driving factor. Assessing business need requires taking into account multiple factors. Data protection with extended recovery times may be acceptable for some functions, immediate data access for others. Protection through planned maintenance may be vital in some instances, 100% availability through disasters for others. Technology selection must address gaps between business expectations and existing IT capability. Closing the business continuity gap ensures IT delivers what business expects.
Learn more and explore some of the factors which will govern the selection of the right solutions to deliver an appropriate solution for business continuity with NEWCOM engineers.
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