The term “cloud computing” is great as a metaphor, but doesn’t quite explain what happens in real life.
That’s not to say that cloud computing doesn’t hold great promise, particularly for small and medium businesses. With cloud computing, these organizations can substantially reduce their IT investment while increasing their capabilities and security. By engaging the services of a third-party technology provider, businesses can get access to technology and systems that they might ordinarily have.
But cloud computing doesn’t just involve technology. Services are equally important and are key to a successful cloud implementation.
NetStandard, a technology services provider in Kansas City, Mo., serves small and medium businesses. Over the years, NetStandard developed a checklist of expectations. For businesses considering a cloud computing arrangement the checklist includes these topics:
- Staff – does the provider have a dedicated technology manager assigned to the business? Does the supporting team include networking, software and security specialists? What sort of certifications does the staff have? What planning can the staff provide to make sure your system requirements will be met in the future?
- Data Center – The data center’s hardware and systems should be redundant so there is no downtime when a failure occurs. An N+1 redundancy designation means that each component has at least independent backup component.
- Certifications – Partnerships and certifications with technology partners indicate that the provider meets or exceeds the required standards.
- SAS 70 – SAS 70 is an auditing statement issued by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) regarding the internal controls of service organizations, including data centers. Increasingly, data centers have conducted SAS 70 audits and obtained SAS 70 certification so they can prove to their clients in regulated industries that they are compliant. However, you should discuss the audit to see that the provider understands the process. Like any audit, an SAS 70 audit is designed to uncover weaknesses so the organization can improve, not get a certification for marketing purposes.
- Consulting – does the provider offer any consulting services to help a business prepare for the transition to cloud computing? For example, NetStandard assists businesses in creating a business case and will analyze a business’s server capacity to estimate the amount of virtual servers needed and the estimated cost savings.
When thinking about business continuity, you should think of the numbers five and four.
- 90% of businesses that are closed for five days or longer will never reopen.
- Only five percent of non-regulated businesses have a continuity plan.
- Your actions within the first four hours of a disruption will determine whether you are a survivor or a statistic.
It’s undeniable: business continuity planning is a difficult process and deals with an unpleasant topic. You don’t have to create a plan by yourself. If you’re one of the 95% of businesses that don’t have a plan, you can correct this risk by using NetStandard’s newest business continuity offering.
Survivor or Statistic is a comprehensive planning tool that provides the software, tools and education needed to develop a complete and actionable business continuity plan at a reasonable cost. Survivor or Statistic eliminates the roadblocks businesses often face by breaking the process down into manageable sections.
Four Concepts, 64 Steps
Survivor or Statistic relies on four concepts to create a plan: awareness, prevention, recovery and continuation. A roadmap processes guides you through 64 steps that keeps the process on-track and ensures that nothing is overlooked. The tool also contains sample documents that you can customize to your business.
Completing the steps results in a business continuity plan that contains the persons and teams charged with responding to an event; response plans based on the type of event; and a threat matrix that identifies the most likely disruptions your business will face.
Convenience and Compatibility
NetStandard offers Survivor and Statistic as a Software as a Service (SaaS) application. This gives you maximum convenience, as multiple persons in your organization can access it from anywhere using a web browser.
If your business requires SAS 70 Type II compliance, using Survivor or Statistic will meet this requirement, as our data center has successfully completed a SAS 70 Type II Audit.
And you can gain a complete business continuity solution by completing a plan with Survivor or Statistic, and using NetStandard’s response offering, Agility Recovery Systems. Agility is based on an insurance model, so you pay an affordable monthly fee and get access to power, technology, space and connectivity services when a disruption happens.
Learn More
You can learn more about Survivor or Statistic by watching a series of videos on Disaster Recovery Solutions and how to plan for a disaster, please click on the links below to preview this great workshop Or Contact NetStandard for more details on how to get started.
Tags: affordable, awareness, business, continuation, disaster recovery services, disaster recovery software, DRS, earthquake, fire, flooding, hurricane, planning tool, power outage, prevention, recovery process, SAS 70 Type II compliance, server crash, strategy, tornado
Business Process Imrprovement | dantorchia | 
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