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Preparing for the worst

How disaster preparedness can rescue your technology — and your business.

by Bill Patton

No one wants a fire, earthquake, or other natural disaster to strike a business, but planning for the unthinkable can save your organization from ruin.

Just ask Tom Cloud, chief executive officer of United Electric Supply Co. Cloud realized how important disaster preparation was after a tornado ripped through his New Castle, Del., headquarters.

“When emotions run that high, you don’t want to have to think about what you’re going to do next,” Cloud says.

Luckily, a few years before the tornado struck, Cloud worked with United Electric executives and disaster recovery experts to develop a just-in-case plan. The two-inch-thick binder — a step-by-step after-disaster guide — included everything from a personnel roll call to a listing of local commercial real estate available for immediate occupancy.

“There were so many things we never would have thought of,” he says.

Also included in the plan: Long-term preparation and response tactics for the company’s technology infrastructure.

“When we initially drew up the plan, we realized that our entire infrastructure ran out of one location,” Cloud says. “Which just happened to be the location hit by the tornado.”

Serious Business
An enterprise software solution providing customer, product and financial information is the backbone of any business today – and must be treated as such.

But what many executives don’t realize is that an out-of-commission solution can cost their company far more than just a few days’ profits. A study by Jon Toigo, an IT disaster recovery expert, reveals that businesses experiencing outages lasting more than 10 days never completely recover financially. Even more sobering, 50 percent of companies suffering such an outage go out of business within five years.

Fortunately, Cloud understood the gravity of a potential disaster.

“We knew we had to have strong, reliable back-up in place,” he says. “We have 280-plus employees using our solution on a daily basis. We realized that couldn’t stop if something happened.”

Technical consultants from United Electric’s technology partner worked with IT executives to build a back-up solution complete with hardware and a solid, live-data connection. And, to ensure that United Electric employees could focus on getting their business back up and running in the event of an emergency, United Electric’s technology partner hosted the setup.

“We did that with one specific goal in mind,” Cloud says. “We wanted to be able to get our business back up and running within 72 hours of a disaster. We knew we could depend on the people at our technology provider to maintain our solution so we could focus on other things.”

Did it work?

“Our 10 branches were operating as though nothing happened within 24 hours of the tornado,” Cloud says. “Which is remarkable considering our headquarters building was completely condemned.”

Understanding and partnership
Charlie Van Horn, president of Oliver H. Van Horn, a New Orleans-based industrial distributor, also understands the importance of disaster readiness for his company’s information technology.

“It’s the heart and soul of any distributorship,” he says.

He takes it so seriously that when a hurricane threatened to cover his headquarters with 10 feet of water, he immediately mailed back-up copies of his enterprise software solution to a branch location in Shreveport, La. “Now, we do it every time we have to evacuate,” he says. He plans to work with his technology provider — and a team of other business experts — to develop a disaster plan in greater detail.

As a distributor, you should look to your technology provider for assistance in mapping your reactions to the unexpected. After all, your partner has probably worked with hundreds or even thousands of distributors and knows how to plan for scenarios you might not expect.

And, as a true business partner, your technology provider should also be able to host your solution in case your hardware is damaged during a disaster. This way, you can return to business as usual in as little time as possible.

“Chances are, you’re never going to need a disaster plan,” Cloud advises distributors. “But we’re living proof it’s prudent to have a plan in place.” c

Bill Patton, vice president of Professional Services for Prophet 21, helps distributors maximize the return on their technology investment. Prophet 21 develops technology solutions and services to help distributors increase sales, improve customer service and reduce operating costs. Find out more at www.p21.com.