Is Your Business Unbreakable?
In the movie "Unbreakable" the main character, David Dunn (played by Bruce Willis) is the sole survivor of a horrific train crash. Amazingly, he comes out of the wreck without a scratch on him. As the plot unfolds we discover that not only is he "unbreakable" but he also has the uncanny ability to tell when bad thing are going to happen. "Great fantasy story" I hear you say, but what does that have to do with the real world? Well it brings up the question we all have to ask. Are my business communications unbreakable?
Most business operators have a disaster recovery plan in place to have the business up and running if a "disaster" should occur. Most plan for horrific events such as the premises burning down or being flood-affected. Many companies have contingency plans in place for server crashes and other unforseen mishaps to ensure continuance of business. But I would like to draw your attention to a recent case that occurred in the city that caught many businesses by surprise and the costs have flowed into the millions.
On September the 15th an Energy Australia crew doing routine line upgrading cut through a Telstra line bundle containing 10 optic fibre cables and over 10,000 copper cables. The result was thousands of businesses in the city not having access to fixed line or data for up to a week. Incredibly 25 ATMs also went down and bank branches spent 48 hours processing all transaction manually. Many businesses closed for the week and the loss of revenue alone is estimated at over $250 million. Telstra's repair costs are over $1 million and the compensation cases will go on for years.
For a few forward planning businesses this was not the case. They had engaged our services when they were upgrading their data and phone networks, and they were open for business as usual the next day. Why? Because we had shown them how to incorporate low-cost redundancy into their data and telephony network.
When the optic fibre was cut all data services regardless of the supplier went down over a two block radius. Most people don't realise how data-dependent we are until it goes. Most businesses had people sitting at their desks ready to work, but unable to send or receive emails, communicate on the web or use web-based databases and ordering systems. Work basically stopped except for the businesses that had data redundancy built in.
Most modern routers have a USB port built into them. By installing a Vodafone Mobile Data stick into the USB port, the router will automatically cross over to mobile data when it detects an interruption to service. The cross over is seamless and speeds are comparable. This peace of mind can be supplied for as low as $39.95 a month.
For those who lost landlines for the duration of repairs, we supplied them with a Gtec Desk phone that has four handsets and operates with a SIM card. By diverting all their land lines to the Gtec handset, the receptionist was still able to answer all incoming calls and transfer them to the staff member's desk via a mobile phone transfer. The staff then used their own mobile handset as a desk phone. Again, a simple solution for a complex problem.
These companies where able to maintain normal business operations, saving them thousands in lost business and giving their clients confidence that they were dealing with a company that is forward thinking and able to overcome disasters that stopped others in their tracks. Your company image is hard to build up and easily tarnished if people can't get hold of you.
If you think that we are blowing this out of proportion, then you may be surprised to learn some interesting facts that Telstra has just recently released. Last year they spent over $20million repairing lines that had been accidentally cut by machinery. Despite "dial before you dig" laws, the potential for an accident to occur that can have disastrous consequences on your business always remains.
Please feel free to call me to organise one of our team to come out and look how we can make your data and telecommunications "unbreakable".
Darren Read, Managing Director - Vodafone Business Centre NorwestGWP Magazine Issue #27, Nov-Dec 2009
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