To put it simply, most organisations can’t operate without being online, or at least they can’t operate effectively. Where would you be without VoIP, video calls, productivity apps, online accounting or e-commerce? Where would you be if you couldn’t even send an email?
We could go on, but you get the picture. It’s imperative that your connectivity helps increase your organisational resilience, rather than undermining it. Good internet access can mean the difference between struggling and surviving when disaster or disruption strike.
And disruption comes in different shapes and sizes. Business continuity isn’t just about planning for natural disasters. It’s about preparing for anything that results in a significant disruption of your business operation. That could mean a fire in your headquarters. But it could also mean an internet outage or an outbreak of seasonal flu that clears the office.
Prepare and thrive
Can you stop these things from happening? Not usually. But you can prepare for them and put contingencies in place that allow you to keep going until the emergency is over. It’s essential that you do. To take just one example, recent statistics show that every hour of unplanned IT downtime costs businesses over $100,000 (£72,000).
Now think of all the natural disasters and manmade accidents that might cause your connectivity and communications to be unexpectedly unavailable for an hour or two. Don’t have nightmares!
What does good connectivity look like?
As we’ve seen, connectivity is the core of your IT infrastructure, so what does good connectivity look like? As a general rule, fibre is far more resilient than copper, so the more fibre there is in your connection, the more robust it tends to be. As a CityFibre partner, our own full fibre solution – which utilises fibre optic cable all the way from the internet to your premises – is among the fastest and most reliable available.
The other benefit of fibre is that it allows for much greater bandwidths – in our case, we can supply full fibre with speeds of up to 1Gb (upload and download). Making sure you have adequate bandwidth is important for disaster recovery, because it gives you the spare capacity to equip remote workers with cloud-based tools and services. That way they can work as productively in their back bedrooms as they can in the office.
In fact, cloud-based solutions, like cloud communication and collaboration tools, are also at the heart of disaster recovery planning, because they give your workforce the flexibility to work from anywhere. But the more data that passes between the cloud and your corporate network, the more bandwidth you’ll need.
What if you lose your fixed line?
Of course, in the case of floods, fire or a serious outage at your internet service provider, it might not matter what your internet cable is made from. You might lose your fixed line connectivity altogether.
In which case, your operational resilience would be greatly enhanced by a mobile back-up solution. Business-grade mobile back-up connectivity is cost-effective and flexible, acting as a reliable failover whether the emergency is a devastating flood or temporary internet outage.
It might not be as fast or robust as good fixed line connectivity, but if it keeps your email and e-commerce up and running during a difficult period, it can be worth its weight in gold.
Get full fibre for less with a Digital Growth Voucher
Still, the core of your connectivity is always likely to be fixed line, and fibre is the future of resilient internet access. On that front, the good news is that you can now apply for a grant that could mean upgrading your connectivity for considerably less than normal price.
Applications are about to reopen for the Digital Growth Vouchers scheme, which awards grants of between £2000 and £12,500 to help small and medium sized businesses reach their digital potential.
The scheme has already helped hundreds of businesses and typically covers 50% of the costs of a project (though it can be more). Our full fibre connectivity is eligible for the Digital Growth Vouchers scheme, and it’s possible to get 100% off the installation costs of full fibre broadband or a private fibre leased line.
If you’d like to know more about our City Fibre full fibre connectivity and the Digital Growth Vouchers scheme, please visit our website.
For more on business continuity planning, please download our guide.