All businesses are vulnerable to disruption, and the inability to operate technology can bring business operations to a standstill. This isn't limited to major environmental disasters like hurricanes, fires or floods. Lack of email service, Internet, a down server, or the inability to access critical information from a certain location can all jeopardize the normal operation of a business. Providing business continuity solutions to businesses is a critical managed service your clients recognize the need for.
You can provide business continuity as a managed service to help businesses function after interruption, including:
- Data storage, both on and off site
- Uninterrupted access to email and phone services
- A process to handle business tasks from multiple locations, including remotely located workers and a way to access from a separate location if the primary location is unavailable
- Immediate access to critical information even during disaster
Challenges of Managed Business Continuity Services
Business continuity solutions must identify cost effective recovery plans that allow a business to continue operating regardless of the “disaster”. No matter what the cause of interruption, your continuity plan must be able to keep a business operational, which is not an easy task.
From a very high level, you'll need to consider or create at a minumum:
- A secondary work site, in case the primary location is not available (or a way to work remotely)
- Selection, installation and maintenance of data backup processes to ensure there is a complete off-site replication of all critical data
- Selection, installation and maintenance of hardware needed at a secondary site
- Selection, installation and maintenance of software applications at a secondary site
- Creation of a crisis management plan
- Processes to ensure the safety and confidentiality of business data even during disaster, to comply with federal and state regulations regarding storage of data
Promote Business Continuity to Clients As Part of a Complete Managed Services Plan
Business owners will continue to seek out ways to reduce their operational costs in 2009. Outsourcing the IT requirements of their operations is more cost effective over maintaining their own internal staff. Having a plan in place to keep a business operational through all types of disruptions helps an MSP mitigate client risk and deliver higher cost savings to clients, for both preventative maintenance and disaster recovery services.
If you are a Premium MSP University Member and would like to learn more, please view the following Webcasts and their supporting documents on our Courses page at www.mspu.us:
- ABS039 Business Continuity Plan Training
- ABS040 Presenting the Business Continuity Plan PowerPoint Presentation to the Client
- ABS041 Presenting the Business Continuity Proposal to the Client
Erick Simpson
MSP University
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