ramsac survey highlights the need for better emergency planning

Poor business continuity planning at the beginning of 2010 cost SMEs an average of £13,800


A survey of SMEs conducted by my company ramsac shows that whilst 60% of businesses had at least half their staff absent during the snow in January, only 33% actually had an effective business continuity plan in place. As a result 94% of the organisations polled admitted that whilst staff worked hard to try and maintain service levels, they were often unable to do so whilst working from home.

The widespread adverse weather conditions that hit the UK earlier this year highlighted, for many businesses, that they do not have the appropriate contingency plan in place to keep business as usual when hit by crisis. The estimates of the cost to the UK economy caused by lost working days over the first two weeks of 2010 vary wildly (our survey suggested an average of around £13,800 for each business that responded), but it’s very clear that a huge proportion of businesses in the UK had large numbers of staff unable to get in to their normal place of work. Unfortunately it wasn’t an isolated case. Severe weather in December and also back in February of 2009, demonstrated that it’s not just a one off occurrence.

Despite the recent snow-bound reminders, bad weather isn’t the only thing that can render whole offices (or vital members of staff) out of action. Pandemic illness, child care problems, power failures, floods, fires - the list of possible interruptions to the modus operandi are countless – so it is essential to plan for these potential problems.

The ramsac survey shows that only 22% of respondents have a documented business continuity plan that they feel meets their current needs should a crisis hit. This is juxtaposed by the fact that all the respondents said that they had staff working from home during the recent bad weather and demonstrates a clear need for companies to take a good look at their needs and build a contingency plan to protect their business activities.

Another issue that our survey highlighted was the type of IT access that businesses provide remote working employees when away from the office. While all the respondents said they provide remote access to email and 67% could offer home workers access to CRM/customer databases and other key business applications, none of the businesses offered remote access to the office telephone system. In an emergency the telephone is still the main channel of communication for customers, suppliers and employees, so it needs to be up and running.

At ramsac we use a technology known as Unified Communications, which combines the telephone system with the rest of the IT communications system. It was invaluable to us during the recent bad weather as we were able to maintain a fully functional business telephone system, which extended to all the team members at their home/remote locations and facilitated a seamless service to our clients.

I advise that businesses plan as well as examine the key business opportunities to be won from being prepared for disruption ahead of your competition, rather than simply dwelling on the potential problems. New technologies are making it easier and simpler to provide employees with all the business tools they need, wherever they are, so building these into a continuity plan can help to ensure that business operations will continue whatever challenges you face.

www.ramsac.com

Support for Windows XP SP2 & Vista RTM ends 13th July 2010

Windows XP SP2 & Windows Vista RTM End of Support Information

There are a number of Microsoft support lifecycle milestones in 2010. You need to be aware of the milestones and plan system and Operating System (OS) deployments to ensure that you maintain access to Microsoft support and updates.


Windows XP SP2 will no longer be the supported service pack level for Windows XP computers as of July 13th 2010. If you are running Windows XP SP2 or a previous version of the OS will need to upgrade to Windows XP Service Pack 3 (or Windows 7).


Windows Vista RTM will no longer be supported as of April 13th 2010. Customers running Windows Vista RTM should upgrade to Windows Vista SP2 (or Windows 7).


Extended support will end for Windows 2000 Server and Professional. Customers running Windows 2000 need to migrate to a supported version of Windows in order to receive updates or support.


You should also consider the cost in time and effort for migrating to a new service pack and consider whether that justifies a migration to Windows 7.

Important Dates


End of Extended Support for the following Products:
Windows XP SP2 July 13th 2010
Windows 2000 Professional SP4 July 13th 2010
Windows 2000 Server SP4 July 13th 2010

End of Mainstream Support for the following products:
Windows Vista RTM April 13th 2010

What is End of Support?


Basically support for the product ends! The Microsoft® Support Lifecycle (MSL) provides predictable and consistent support timelines for Microsoft products, to customers worldwide. The Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy offers a minimum of:


Ten years of support (five years Mainstream Support and five years Extended Support) at the supported service pack level for Microsoft Business and Developer products.
Five years of Mainstream Support at the supported service pack level for Microsoft Consumer/Hardware/Multimedia products.


Note: Mainstream and Extended Support is ONLY provided at the supported service pack level. Microsoft will support products running at the latest Service Pack level and the prior Service Pack level, 24 months after the release of the latest Service Pack.


Mainstream Support Phase
Mainstream Support is the first phase of the product support lifecycle. At the supported service pack level, Mainstream Support includes:
1 - Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support, support charged on an hourly basis, support for warranty claims)
2 - Security update support
3 - The ability to request non-security hotfixes


Extended Support Phase
The Extended Support phase is available after the Mainstream Support phase ends for Business and Developer products only. At the supported service pack level, Extended Support includes:
1 - Security update support at no additional cost
2 - Non-security related hotfix support if the customer has purchased a separate Extended Hotfix Support agreement (per-fix fees also apply).


Note that Extended support does not include:
1 - Requests for warranty support, design changes, or new features.
2 - Support for Consumer, Hardware, or Multimedia products.

So what do you need to do?

If you have Windows XP SP2 currently deployed then you need to migrate to Windows XP SP3.


Companies running Windows Vista RTM should migrate to Windows Vista SP2. (Again consider the cost in time and effort for migrating to a new service pack and discuss with ramsac or your incumbent supplier the option of migrating to Windows 7).


If you have Windows XP you should use Microsoft Update or Automatic Updates to download and install Windows XP SP3. SP3 can be downloaded from Microsoft Update at http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate.


If you are using Windows Vista you should use Windows Update to download and install Windows Vista SP2. Although note that Service Packs may not be available through Windows Update on Windows Vista computers until other available updates have been installed. You will also need to separately install SP1 before installing SP2.


If you are running Windows 2000 Server or Professional edition then you need to migrate to Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7.


If you are still running Windows XP SP2 you obviously need to be aware of your options but without doubt it is a great time to talk to us about a Windows 7 deployment discussion.

www.ramsac.com

Snow or other Emergency working – our use of Citrix and ShoreTel

The following are the thoughts of one of my co-directors at ramsac, Paul Mew. I thought I’d share with you his comments on working in the recent snow and how our application of Citrix and a ShoreTel Unified Communications Phone System made life so very easy!


Me!

For me as an individual it was quite straightforward to deal with being unable to leave the house, as I just worked from home in the same way I would any other time.

In my case I have a Windows based laptop that I use when I’m out and about, wherever I can get Internet access either via a wireless ‘hotspot’ or via my mobile phone. But when I’m working from home I’ll usually use my Apple Mac desktop machine.

We use Citrix, which allows me to run the same full Windows desktop that I have in the office, with all the same applications and files, from a web browser on any machine. So I can just click on a web shortcut, enter my username and password, and have access to everything in minutes.

Getting access to my e-mail, databases and files is great, but being available on the phone and making calls is also critical to me.

So, after logging into Citrix I used the Call Manager software for our ShoreTel telephone system to reassign my telephone extension to my home phone line. Call Manager is just a piece of software that runs on everyone’s desktops and laptops, and also in Citrix, which allows you to make calls, see who’s available, change your settings, all directly from your PC.

I could re-assign my extension to my mobile, which is what I often do when I’m out and about, but I get poor mobile signal at home so tend to use my home phone line.

By re-assigning my extension to my home phone any calls to my extension, either from colleagues or outside contacts, are passed straight through to my home phone. When a call comes in I get a pop-up in Citrix to tell me who’s calling, and when I answer my home phone the telephone system announces that I should press ‘1’ to accept the call. I’ve set it up that way to save my family having to worry about whether a call is business or personal when they pick up the phone. I could even have the system ask the caller to state their name, which is then re-played to me, so I can choose whether to take the call.

If I want to make an outbound call, I just use Call Manager – either clicking a contact, clicking a number on a website, or cutting and pasting in a number. My home phone then rings and again announces that I should press 1, at which point the ShoreTel system in the office dials the number and connects me.

The beauty of the ‘Office Anywhere’ system is that I’m never using my home phone line for outgoing calls, as the system in the office is calling me. I also don’t need to give out my home number if I want someone to call me when I’m working at home.

Someone who’s called into the office for me can be put through to my extension and then diverted to home without them ever knowing that I’m not in the office! During the snow I even set-up a three way conference call with one of our consultants and a client via the ShoreTel system, even though none of us had made it into our respective offices.

The Office

Obviously we have our Business Continuity plan and our Emergency Operating Procedures which cover various disruptive situations, but in the case of the recent snow they weren’t really required!

In years gone by when we’ve had disruptions due to bad weather, we’ve had to call our telephone company to ask them to divert the main phone numbers to a mobile. Two issues there, one is that the telephone company will be swamped with requests so it may take hours to get the number diverted, secondly the number is diverted to a single mobile so there are issues with it being busy and trying to free it up as quickly as possible when a call comes in.

Obviously we have plans to deal with a power failure, but when it’s just a case of the office being inaccessible things are quite straightforward.

For staff who can’t make it into the office, they just need to log onto Citrix, and as described above they use ShoreTel Call Manager to assign their extension to their home phone or mobile.

We had a few members of staff who don’t normally work from home, or who were working on different machines which weren’t set-up for remote working, but with Citrix it was simple for them to get access quickly without having to install software on their machines beforehand.

Once that’s been done, which takes seconds, they can work as if they are in the office. If they are part of a telephone workgroup (also known as a ‘hunt group’, where a single external number will dial several internal extensions either in groups or in order), as our support and operations teams are, their home phone/mobile will ring as part of that workgroup.

So, even if no-one makes it into the office, as long as everyone has diverted their numbers (which is easy to see from Call Manager) then all of the phones in the company will work as normal. If one or two people make it in, as was the case for us, they don’t need to deal with every incoming call, as all of the staff working at home are still members of the workgroup.

As things return to normal, which will be at different points for different members of staff, users just re-assign their extension back to their desk phone when they return to the office. We also have the flexibility to send staff to work from home early if conditions worsen, as it only takes seconds to log on, re-assign their extension, and start working.

What we’ve also found is that when staff are provided with an easy to use way to work at home, they are likely to use it. Most of our staff will log on, deal with a their e-mails and get a few things done when they get home, because it’s so quick and easy.

If you want advice on any of the technology described here please talk to me or my colleagues at ramsac (http://www.ramsac.com/).

Windows 7 Feature/Version Comparison

There seems to be much confusion about the features available to users in the 6 versions of Windows 7, the following table is a really useful resource which explains the options in each. (Click on the table for a larger version)

http://www.ramsac.com

Making The Most Of Your Data Storage

The safe and secure storage of valuable business data is an essential requirement for all organisations. Failure to do so correctly can result in lost, stolen or leaked data, leading to potentially embarrassing and damaging repercussions to the overall reputation of the business.

Yet the ongoing and incremental cost of storing more and more information can spiral ever upwards. Having a data storage policy in place will help you to understand, manage and budget for what information is being stored and where, what needs to be stored and what doesn’t, as well as who need access to it.


The first step is to think about where your data is being stored. In any organisation data can exist in a wide variety of formats whether it is on a memory stick, CD or DVD, the hard drive of a laptop, desktop PC, a server, or even a dedicated off-site data centre.


Following this, think carefully about what information needs to be stored and for how long. This will of course be different for every business. Continually purchasing additional storage as demand seemingly dictates can get expensive quickly, so it is prudent to only keep data that is valuable and likely to be needed in the future.


For example, you may be obliged to keep records for a specified period to meet the regulatory compliance demands of your governing body, but what happens after this time has elapsed? Many organisations simple leave it to unnecessarily clog up their IT systems.


Once you understand what you have, what you need and where it is, you can begin to declutter.


The wealth of different files (and often duplicate versions of files) being stored from different sources means there will typically be a mass of what could be considered unstructured data – the data equivalent of a cluttered desk.


By purging this unstructured data regularly it is possible to free up space a considerable amount of space, giving greater capacity for important business files without the need for additional expenditure.


Think about how you store data. As well as the convenience, regularly archiving files also gives greater assurance that data will be backed up safely in case of software, hardware, or user errors that can result in data loss.


For example Quality Assurance is very important for many service-based companies, so being able to keep an audit trail of e-mails and other documents is imperative. However, this does not necessarily mean that all files are needed immediately all the time. An archiving system that is used on an ongoing basis will move older files from everyday systems, where they can make the use and searching of current files more difficult.


Finally, don’t forget to backup. Figures from a recent Google survey suggest that hard disks have a failure rate of around 7% each year, which means that information stored on one server, or even physically on one computer, can be at significant risk of irretrievable loss unless backup copies are produced on a regular basis.


Data storage is much like physical storage – it needs to be well managed to make sure that it is secure, that the space is used efficiently and that nothing is being kept that needn’t be there. It’s very easy to retain old files that nobody takes ownership of, but it’s important to make sure files are accounted for, sensibly stored and ultimately archived then destroyed when they are no longer needed.


It may not yet be Spring, but it’s an ideal time for a data Spring Clean!

http://www.ramsac.com