DWPIA Whitepaper - Business Continuity Planning for Small Business, Avoid Failure, Be Prepared for Any Disaster, and Sleep Soundly at Night (Because Your Company is Safe)

White Paper

A White Paper from DWP

Information Architects, Inc.

www.dwpia.com

This report is not intended to

answer every question you

might have about the subject at

hand. This report consists of the

opinions and current thoughts

of the author at the time of pub-

lication.

This report is intended to give

general advice and information

with regard to its subject mat-

ter. It is distributed with the

understanding that the author,

publisher, and DWP Infor-

mation Architects are not ren-

dering specific advice for any

specific company or organiza-

tion.

DWP Information Architects

would be happy to review your

current systems and to offer

appropriate context-specific

advice.

DWP Information Architects

and the authors will not be lia-

ble to any person or organiza-

tion for any actions they take

as a result of the information

contained in this report.

In other words, you’re responsi-

ble for your own actions.

Box 3876, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359

Telephone: 866-995-4488

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.dwpia.com

Business Continuity Planning for Small Business, Avoid Failure, Be Prepared for Any Disaster,

and Sleep Soundly at Night

(Because Your Company is Safe)

By Denis S. Wilson

The impact of data loss and downtime can have profound effects on

small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). To meet this challenge,

SMBs typically rely on IT Service providers to bring both solutions and

expertise that can minimize the SMB’s exposure to such events.

Market Overview

Information fuels business. Modern organizations subsist largely on

how well they handle the reams of corporate data that define them.

Every step of today’s commerce and business interactions generate

vast quantities of vital information needed to keep the engines running

and the wheels turning. The importance of protecting all of this data is

starkly evident in large enterprises, but the matter is no less important

or critical in small and midsize businesses. Even with their limited

resources and IT budgets, SMBs require robust business continuity

systems, disaster recovery plans and safeguards to ensure their

precious IT assets are accessible in the event of a catastrophic outage

or system failure.

Small Business’ Top IT Concerns

Business continuity and disaster recovery is the top priority for small and mid-sized businesses. When it comes to BC/DR, SMBs are most concerned with the following: • Protecting databases (68%) • Safeguarding e-mail (45%) • Backing up accounting data (39%) • Protecting network services (36%) Source: Forrester Global IT Budgets - June 2011

A Product of Web: www.DWPia.com Email: [email protected]

DWP Information Architects Inc. Phone 866-995-4488

http://www.dwpia.com

mailto:[email protected]

Page 2 Ph: 866-995-4488 Email [email protected]

Unfortunately, many SMBs have ignored the basic safe-

guards of proper business continuity and disaster recov-

ery (BC/DR). As a result, Selling Business Continuity to SMBs | 1

Even with limited resources and

budget, SMBs require robust business

continuity systems and disaster

recovery plans.

SMBs are at great risk when disaster strikes and network

operations are disrupted. Like their enterprise counter-

parts, SMBs risk serious and long-lasting damage to their

brands and reputations from such disruptions. And be-

cause their size often makes them less able to withstand

such a blow, their very survival can be jeopardized.

Despite this need, many SMBs are grossly under-

protected from systems failure because of their lack of

essential BC/DR capabilities. CDW’s Business Continui-

ty Straw Poll (Sept. 2011) indicates 82

percent of significant service disruptions in U.S. busi-

nesses could be reduced or avoided by implementing

even the most rudimentary BC/DR plan.

According to the Cloud & Technology Transformation

Alliance’s State of the Cloud Channel (March 2012),

public and hybrid loud offerings are in demand by be-

tween one-third and one-half of SMBs, and some 60 per-

cent of that demand is focused on backup and data recov-

ery services.

SMB BC/DR Basics

SMBs have a finite set of systems and data vital to their

businesses. The basic tenets of business continuity and

disaster recovery, however, remain the same no matter

the breadth of the organization.

Business continuity for SMBs describes proactive sys-

tems of replicated data and redundant networking and

applications designed to “failover” in the event of an out-

age. This allows mission-critical

systems to remain operational with limited disruption.

Included with business continuity are the more complex

scenarios that address not only IT systems, but also

things like personnel changes, supply chain challenges,

malware and other risk management issues.

Disaster recovery, meanwhile, is more reactive, focusing

on the use of backups to restore failed IT systems such as

servers or mainframes,

a private branch exchanges (PBX) or even local-area

networks (LANs). The end goal is to provide whatever

is necessary to meet the immediate business needs in

the event of trouble.

82 percent of significant service

disruptions in U.S. businesses

could be reduced or avoided

by implementing even the most

rudimentary business continuity plan.

The greatest growth in cloud-based, managed BC/DR

services will come from SMBs. Today 5 percent of

SMBs employ backup-as-a-service,

remote backup or online backup services from a man-

aged services provider. About 38 percent plan to em-

ploy these same services within two years – a growth

rate of 660 percent, according to a 2011 study by For-

rester.

The BC/DR Planning

The development of a successful SMB BC/DR plan

requires a three-step process: (1) a

thorough assessment of needs and capabilities; (2) opti-

mization of the plan; and (3) a solid implementation

strategy. This methodology

helps ensure a complete, effective and right-sized SMB

BC/DR plan that maximizes performance and minimiz-

es cost, while delivering superior customer service.

1. The Assessment Phase

Business continuity and disaster recovery planning in

SMBs depend, initially, on a thorough assessment of

needs. The SMB needs to know not only what data and

systems are critical to the business, but also what kinds

of continuity or recovery mechanisms are in place, how

able the company is able to deal with IT disruptions,

and how much the company can afford to invest in and

maintain BC/DR systems. It is also essential to under-

stand the industry to account for any regulatory or com-

pliance concerns.

Steps to a thorough BC/DR assessment for SMBs in-

clude the following:

Examine company policies and standards The com-

pany’s specialized needs are the foundation of subse-

quent data protection and disaster recovery work. The

company need an understanding of the operating re-

quirements and environment. Also, revenue-producing



systems and regulatory requirements can greatly influ-

ence BC/DR decisions.

Critically review existing systems Scrutinize existing

equipment with an eye toward systems that should be

upgraded or consolidated. Outdated, unreliable underly-

ing hardware, networking, storage,

security, applications and bandwidth often cannot support

sufficient BC/DR mechanisms and should be replaced or

optimized. The same goes for software and management

systems.

Develop a business impact assessment (BIA) The BIA

maps BC/DR priorities including lines of jurisdiction,

areas of primary business concern and the order in which

systems will be restored. This part of the assessment is

built on a strong understanding of the company’s vital

business processes, the interdependencies and relation-

ships between

the client’s systems and services, and, ultimately, the cus-

tomer’s data loss tolerance. The BIA is an excellent tool

for framing the continuing discussion on BC/DR needs.

Deliver a comprehensive BC/DR plan The assessment

phase concludes with a follow-up to the BIA in the form

of a more comprehensive BC/DR plan. This complete

plan adds technical specifications, data recovery stratifi-

cation mapping, and additional details such as testing

schedules, contact trees and the parties responsible for

reporting and mitigating disruptive events.

The three step process for developing

a business continuity plan include:

1. Assessment phase

2. Optimizing the plan

3. An implementation strategy

2. Optimizing the Plan

With a full understanding of company’s needs, it’s time

for the other stakeholders to weigh in on BC/DR service

plan. This begins the process of getting all the stakehold-

ers buy-in on the plan. For instance, a reorganization of

the folders full of company data from disparate locations

to the centralized storage location where it can be backed

up appropriately is going to create some pain in some

departments.

It is essential to “sell” the plan within the organization,

and to get some fresh ideas and input on things not

thought of. All of these elements are brought together in a

solid implementation strategy.

The value proposition Real value is defined by what

the plan does, not the products it uses. Consider the

inherent value in the plans, policies, processes and pro-

fessional support the company plans to implement and

brings to the BC/DR project. Try to summarize these

into the executive overview of the project.

Contracts and SLAs In BC/DR services, performance

is more than a promise; it’s a contractual function be-

tween provider and subscriber. Proper service-level

agreements list the terms under which the solution pro-

vider guarantees the restoration of data, applications

and processes in the event of disruptions to the compa-

ny. These provisions are typically expressed as the re-

covery time objective (RTO), a measure of how quick-

ly IT managers can find, access and retrieve protected

assets; the recovery point objective (RPO), the time in

which the service provider should be able to recover or

roll back systems; and the recovery granularity objec-

tive (RGO), the level of detailed storage architecture

recovery by file, block and transaction level.

3. Implementation strategies

The company and the solution provider are the team

that implement the plan. Several things should be done

to improve the odds of success:

In business continuity and disaster

recovery services, performance is

more than a promise; it’s a contractual

function between provider and

subscriber.

Plan on simple steps to start. Limiting the menu

to one or two key steps to begin with. That should

give the SMB a sense for how the team is working

and the areas of potential difficulties in creating

repeatable successes. Going too broad at the start

could overtax resources.

Set firm objectives. These should be defined in

metrics such as number of goals to each step of the

plan. Don’t plan on too many objectives to start

with.

Field test and collect feedback. Though the BC/

DR systems were tested early in the development

phase, it is important to test them again under real-

world conditions during the launch phase. Here,

adjustments can be made that facilitate adding ac-

counts and upping utilizing rates. At the same time,



the company should solicit feedback from early

adopters to make sure client perception matches that

of the provider.

Summary

Despite the obvious pitfalls, SMBs are living dangerously

when it comes to the lack of judicious backup, recovery

and business continuity. But careful planning and cau-

tious project implement will bring results. The critical

thing in the plan is finding a consultant or a solution pro-

vider that can fill out the team. A partner with

knowledge, skills and technology that will bridge the gap

between the injudicious past and the safe future.

About Netcare Vault

DWP Information Architects provides a leading SaaS-

based managed services platform that monitors, and

maintains an advanced backup and disaster recovery

(BDR) offering branded NetCare Vault – all integrated

with a Network Operations Center (NOC), delivering a

single, unified managed services experience.

We Can Help

DWP Information Architects is Knowledgeable, Pro-

fessional, and Experienced. We have built hundreds of

backup systems. Our clients have included many small

businesses, and some of the largest companies in the

world.

We also manage networks and backup systems for

companies all across the United States.

If we can help you, please contact us today:

DWP Information Architects, Inc.

Phone 866-995-4488

Email [email protected]

Web www.dwpia.com


Knowledgeable — Professional — Experienced

Designing, building, and supporting networks for small and

medium sized businesses since 2002.



About DWP Information Architects

DWP Information Architects is Ventura County’s Prem-

ier Microsoft Partner. We were founded in 2002 and have

been providing managed care for computer systems since

the day we opened our doors.

We manage your entire I.T. (information technology)

system so you can do . . . whatever it is you do.

Because of our investment in the best people and the best

consulting tools available, we can provide a level of ser-

vice and support normally only available to very large

companies.

We make it possible for small and medium size business-

es (SMB's) to have:

A real, fulltime I.T. department

Service ticketing

Project management

Limited budget

24x7 monitoring

Automated patching of computer systems

Access to absolute top-notch tech support

And we do it for less than what most companies are pay-

ing for "a computer guy."

Company Overview

DWP Information Architects is a consulting firm that

specializes in managing your entire information tech-

nology infrastructure.

That means Internet connectivity, Windows operating

systems, and Microsoft Networks.

We can help you with:

General Tech Support

(Desktops, Servers, Monthly maintenance)

Setting Up Microsoft Windows networks

Microsoft Exchange Server

Microsoft Server 2012

Choosing, Installing, and Managing Email Services

Backups, Fault Tolerance, Failover Systems

Getting Connected to the Internet (Choosing an

ISP, Frame Relay, Other Options)

Keeping Your Network Up and On the Net

TCP/IP

Networking Domain Control

Troubleshooting

Choosing, Installing, and Creating Content for Web

Services

Remote Access Solutions

Fax Services

Security and Firewalls

Domain Name Service (DNS)

Maintaining your Network

Disaster Recovery Preparation and Services

Configuring Network Hardware, such as Routers,

DSU/CSUs, Hubs, Switches, etc.

. . . and More!!!



The author is Denis S. Wilson,

President and Principal Consult-

ant for DWP Information Archi-

tects Inc. in Thousand Oaks,

CA.




Designing, building, and supporting networks for small and

medium sized businesses since 2002.

Call 866-995-4488