When Is A Business Continuity Plan Needed?

when is a business continuity plan needed
when is a business continuity plan needed

Human nature tends to want to avoid unpleasant thoughts concerning potentially catastrophic events, which unfortunately leads to poor planning in certain times of need. A good example of this for a residential home owner is when the power goes out due to a sever storm.

Whenever this happens, most people are left literally in the dark wondering if the power will be out so long that they will be forced to throw out an entire refrigerator worth of food. Meanwhile, the kids are driving everybody more than just a little crazy because there’s no television and of course, none of their many devices are charged.

While all this is going on, your mind is left wondering why you never put that money into the whole house generator you have wanted to put in for years now because of times like this.

A Relatively Small Investment of Your Time and Resources Could Have Saved All This Grief

The business owner’s analogy to the whole house generator is a business continuity plan (BCP). Most business owners are hesitant to dedicate their time and energy for a plan they may never need or just don’t even want to think about. The problem is that even though you think you may never need it, the odds are seriously against this. The following are three not so absurd scenarios that illustrate why you need a carefully constructed, easily executed BCP in place immediately.

IT Security – Perhaps nothing can bring an organization to its knees quite like a simple little email with ill intent. Viruses, data breaches, and various other forms of malware can interrupt business operations like nothing else. You can have the most skilled IT people in the world on staff and it won’t make a bit of difference if just one unwitting employee opens an email that contains a damaging attachment.

Fire! – What happens if fire ravages throughout your business? If the fire is particularly uncontrollable, you may not only have servers and key pieces of equipment that are rendered inoperable and need replacement, but your entire staff may also not be able to return to work until the area is deemed habitable. Include emergency operation plans in your BCP to know just what to do if a fire threatens your viability as a thriving business.

Non-Peaceful Demonstrations – Occasionally throughout history certain events take place that lead to revolution. Although these events may seem rare or unlikely during peaceful times, one needs to look no further than the recent events in Baltimore and Missouri that shut down various businesses for several days due to public safety reasons. Maintain awareness of the possibilities for these issues and ensure your employees know exactly what to do in the event of civil unrest. Be prepared to invoke your BCP in this situation before it is too late.

AE Technology Group is your IT company in New York and Long Island for managed services.

Please contact us today for more information about any of our services including disaster recovery, support, cloud computing, and much more.

Easy Ways to Be More Productive

easy ways to be more productive

how to be more productive

If you are looking to improve your business, an easy way to start is by asking the question: how to be more productive? It seems like being productive should be easy. Smart phones make it so you have access to taking calls, email, video chat, and the internet at all times.

So why does it seem like at the end of the day, you still have so many things left on your to-do list?

Productivity is tricky, because it takes self-control. Only you can be in charge of how productive you are. Here are some easy ways to be more productive. According to Forbes.com it’s important to understand how your body plays into your productivity.

The article suggests you tackle your most complicated tasks in the morning, when you have the most energy. Everyone can relate to that afternoon slump. Save some of your more mindless tasks for then. Carson Tate, the founder of Working Simply managing consultants, suggests you take time to make your priorities in the morning when you have the most energy. Then you can just follow your to-do list throughout the parts of day when you don’t have as much energy to think about it.

Another way to up your productivity is to reassess your work week. Further supporting listening to you body and being productive when your body is ready, are start-ups that are not enforcing a 9-5 work week. One start-up is having its employees work from 8-1, knowing a shorter work day will force them to be more productive and waste less time in the office. If you are in charge of you own work schedule, consider mixing up your hours and seeing if you can get more done.

These are just a few simple ideas to get you started on a more productive path. If IT assistance can help you be more productive, contact us at AE Technology Group.

Outsourced Computer Support for Your Business – Disaster Recovery

outsourced computer support for your business disaster recovery

Disaster Recovery

Did you know that computer downtime costs US businesses approximately $26.5 billion annually? Also, companies that have a network down for more than ten days never completely recoup the financial loss to their businesses. These statistics demonstrate just how vital it is for your business to have an adequate IT disaster recovery plan in place.

Outsourced computer support for your business can help you design one. To create a solid plan (or improve an existing one) these questions should be asked:

  • Does my current plan (if one exists) provide enough protection?
  • How long can my company afford to have its system(s) down?
  • How much data can my company afford to lose?
  • What are the critical servers, applications, and related software?
  • What is the availability of my company’s IT personnel if disaster strikes? With respect to outsourced computer support, how fast can their personnel be on my company’s premises?

Testing

A recovery procedure is only as good as its performance when tested. If you don’t test it, you don’t even know if it works. Don’t fall back on excuses – insufficient time, workflow disruption, no allocation of funds in the budget, etc. You don’t want to wait until your system crashes to discover the glitches in your plan.

A test of your system will give you the following important information:

  • The length of time the recovery took.
  • What data presented a challenge to recover.
  • Which applications did not return to the expected state.
  • The ability of your IT personnel to handle the recovery.

Assistance is at Hand

If creating and testing a plan seems somewhat daunting, you don’t have to do it alone. We can create and test an optimum backup and recovery plan for you. Take advantage of our expertise and your downtime will be minimal.

Please get in touch with us for more information.

How to Avoid a Power Outage in Your Business

how to avoid a power outage in your business

how to avoid a power outage

In the business world, there are plenty of reasons why you should have contingency plans. After all, you never know what could happen. For example, what if your network became exposed to hackers due to outdated security? Much more common, though, is the loss of data due to a power outage.

Not only can these data losses be prevented, though, but they can also be avoided altogether. Here’s how to how to avoid a power outage and keep your information safe as well.

Backing up Your Data

First of all, it’s important to remember that not all power outages can be avoided. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do your best to avoid them, but on the other hand, it’s sometimes better to be more concerned with what needs to be done, in case an outage does occur in your business.

With that said, it’s important to back up your data on a regular basis. That way, if something were to happen, you wouldn’t lose any important information, putting your business at risk. However, don’t just keep the data backed up, but storing it on a portable USB flash drive is another effective contingency plan. After all, once said information is on the device, it’s portable and can be uploaded from any computer.

Having a Backup Generator

While backing up data will keep your information safe during a power outage, having an electrical backup generator will prevent any outages altogether. If your business has the money to invest in one, it should definitely be considered.

While it certainly isn’t required, especially if you have a contingency plan for your data loss, having a generator will make things much less of an inconvenience, and you’ll be able to work even if there’s an outage in the area.

For more information, and to get the support you need, contact us at AE Technology Group.

How Managed Services for Small Businesses Can Benefit Your Startup

how managed services for small businesses can benefit your startup
managed services for small businesses

As a startup, you understand the challenges that you must face in order to achieve success. One of those challenges is maintaining enough working capital to stay operational.

Controlling your budget is essential for keeping enough capital on hand to function. IT maintenance and management can eat away at your budget quickly with unexpected expenses, downtime, and more.

The below explains why managed services for small businesses can give your startup the IT help it needs without breaking your budget.

Save On Upfront Costs

Many startups invest a bulk of their working capital on buying high-end servers, software, and other network devices. There is also the expense of hiring full-time IT technicians to manage your network. These costs include salary, benefits, vacation, and more.

By outsourcing your IT network management to a managed services provider, you save on these upfront costs while benefiting from round the clock monitoring and support.

Receive Enterprise-Level Support

Maintaining an IT department is costly and relying on a staff member who is somewhat computer savvy is risky. When you outsource your IT maintenance, you also get access to a team of IT experts with years of experience and knowledge.

They are available to you and your team whenever you need support. Any issues with your network or workstations are quickly resolved remotely by picking up the phone, sending an email, or instant messaging.

Reduce Your IT Costs

With managed services, your monthly IT costs are predictable. There is no need to budget for hardware upgrades, utility costs, or employing IT staff. With fixed monthly costs, you can allocate the money saved toward projects that will expand your business.

Outsourcing IT management is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. However, startups seem to benefit the most. Managed services can provide the professional IT help you need at an affordable fixed monthly price.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation. We can provide you with all the advantages of IT service and support while sparing you the high costs of managing your IT in-house.