Has The Big Freeze Brought Your Company To A Halt?
Although this time the weather forecasters did predict it, many of us did not anticipate the disruption it would cause. We always make a fuss about nothing when it comes to snow in the UK - after it normally all turns to rain and is washed away by lunchtime.
However, this time, like in December it was different; a high proportion of employees could not make it in to offices and many companies were effectively brought to a stand still for several days. With the weathermen predicting that this could be a common occurrence, are there lessons to be learned and easy steps we can take to minimise such disruption in the future?
This is Business Continuity Planning
The recent disruptive weather is a perfect example of why organisations need a business continuity plan. When we think of business
continuity planning we think of natural disasters, terrorist strikes, fire, floods – things that will either destroy or render our
offices out of action for considerable periods of time. The truth is, having your office closed for one or two days (as experienced
recently) is a significant cost to your business.
A business continuity plan will identify (before you need it) how you can keep a high proportion of your workforce active and deliver service to your customers when a vital piece of your infrastructure is non-accessible.
Why is this so important to you in IT? Well, because it is IT that is the critical part of the business continuity plan. When an employee cannot get into the office they are not worried about where they can sit; they can do that at home, in another office, etc. What they need is the ability to be connected to the outside world (via telecommunication) and have access to the systems, data and applications they need to do their job (via data network.)
Whether your office is flooded, or all of your employees are snowed in at home, a business continuity plan that is focused on providing alternative access to telecommunications and data network will keep your workforce working.
Is Desktop Virtualisation The Answer?
You have heard a lot from us on virtualisation; after all it is one of the core competencies of the team at b2Lateral. We have spent a lot
of time explaining how it can cut the costs associated with end-user PCs, significantly save the time of system management and also reduce
your organisation’s carbon footprint. Well now we are going to tell you that it can combat the snow.
If you implement desktop virtualisation within your organisation, each of your users is able to access their personal computing environment from any device (even a limited-spec machine) that is connected to your corporate network.
For example, if the PC I use every day suddenly stops working, I can go to any other PC in the office, log-in and be faced with my own desktop and all of my normal applications and access to data.
The same is true if I cannot get into the main office; I could walk into another branch or local office, log into a free computer and have my desktop environment available.
So given that almost every household has a PC now, and out of those households connected to the internet over 95% are using a broadband connection, why is it not possible to provide the workforce with home access to their virtualised desktop using VPN security software?
How much has the recent snow cost your organisation? Add this to the savings that desktop virtualisation can offer and it is a very compelling proposition.
If you are thinking about reviewing or updating your business continuity plan or would like to understand more about how desktop virtualisation could help provide fall-back remote access, contact Derrick Hall on 0844 664 2565 or email Derrick at dhall@b2lateral.net