Did you know CAPS was one of the first companies in Connecticut to provide Business Continuity services? In 1995 the company began offering a secure alternate workplace for companies that wanted to minimize the risk of service disruptions. Though much has changed over the 27 years since CAPS first opened its doors, the need to manage risk is more important than ever.
Risk management is big in Connecticut. The state is home to many financial advisors and is the headquarters of some the country’s leading insurance companies. All businesses in our state must plan to avoid outages that can literally affect viability. Business Continuity service providers help organizations manage risk by providing backup facilities to limit the impact of service disruptions.
Much of business continuity has to do with IT. Information technology and communications are essential to many organizations’ operations. The best business continuity service providers offer facilities designed to assure IT systems are always operational. These high-end alternate workplaces are available 24/7/365 and have comprehensive security systems in place. They also offer trained professionals to assist in business continuity planning and periodic testing to assure preparedness.
In the past decade, the risk of service disruption due to cyber breaches has grown dramatically so data protection, backup, and recovery are now critical components of a business continuity plan. On demand, conveniently located office space with uninterrupted power and always-on internet service are the three other essential components of business continuity.
Though business continuity is a priority for most companies in Connecticut, each organization manages risk in its own way. The business impact of potential service disruptions varies from one company to the next. Each organization has its own business continuity risk appetite which is based on the likelihood of a service disruption and the estimated cost to the company of an outage. A comprehensive Business Impact Analysis (BIA) should be conducted periodically to calibrate risk.
Let’s review 5 of the most common Business Continuity approaches employed by Connecticut organizations ranging from the most rudimentary to the most complete and lowest risk solutions.
Work From A Public Place With WiFi
Relying on public WiFi at a local library or coffee shop for business continuity is not appropriate for any but the smallest organizations. Still many companies rely on this approach to access the Public Cloud when operations are interrupted at their office. Security concerns make this a risky choice. Conversations can be overheard, and WiFi communications can be intercepted.
Work From Home
Since much of work is now provisioned from the Public Cloud, there is a growing trend to depend on home offices for business continuity. If the home has power and internet service, this solution is both convenient and cost-effective. However home-based business continuity services are not optimal. Some workloads are not hosted in the cloud so there can be gaps in what can be done from the home. Power and internet services are subject to problems when working from home and security is less robust. Relying on home offices for business continuity can create client concerns especially for financial companies that must publicize their Business Continuity Plans on their websites as is mandated by FINRA Rule 4370.
Work From Another Corporate Office
Organizations with multiple offices may develop Business Continuity plans where employees work from other offices in case of an outage at their primary place of work. This approach can be effective if other offices are not exposed to the same outage conditions and if they are a commutable distance.
Work From A Shared Office Facility
Some organizations will reserve alternate workspace from shared office space companies like Regus. Regus has many locations in the state of Connecticut where a private office can be rented. The office may be furnished with a company’s systems and is usually available for use 24/7/365. However, generator power is not always available and multiple internet service providers with automatic failover is not typical. Internet services, unless specially provisioned, are shared with other tenants which limits bandwidth and security. Colocation services are not available at Shared Office facilities and technical support is not provided.
Work From An Alternate Workplace At A Secure Data Center
For organizations that have a low appetite for Business Continuity risk, a secure alternate workplace such as CAPS’ facility in Shelton, CT provides the best alternative. Clients may reserve Shared Seats or Dedicated Seats or a combination of both. Colocation services are available at the same data canter to maximize system availability. The high security business continuity workspace facility is powered by redundant UPS and generator systems with 24/7/365 access for authorized personnel. Redundant internet service with automatic failover provides high availability communications with the level of bandwidth required by each client. Trained professionals assist in the planning and periodic testing of each organization’s unique business continuity plan. They can quickly configure each client’s unique workstation user interface by employing the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) at the data center.
For more than a quarter century CAPS has been a leading provider of business continuity services to organizations in Connecticut. Clients include investment companies, banks, and other financial institutions. There are also hospitality companies and other non-financial institutions that have decided to minimize their business continuity risk. Business Continuity, Colocation, Data Backup and Recovery, and Private Cloud services are all available from CAPS. Please contact us if you have lost your appetite for risk.
