Forward, Summer 2016 Issue

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Summer 2016 Q Forward Magazine
What would be the impact on
your business if the roof blew
off your building? If your
offices filled with water? If you suddenly
had no access to your IT systems?
Two of our customers found themselves
in this situation recently when a tornado
struck south of Sydney, Australia. While
not every business has to weather natural
disaster, asking these questions does
provide a pretty strong incentive to assess
your own disaster recovery (DR) plans.
We can talk at length about the pros and
cons of paper vs automation, of running
on-premises or cloud-based systems, of
investing in processes or just winging it,
but only a real world example can put
it painfully into perspective. When the
tornado ripped through the industrial
park without warning, it put two of our
customers out of action. One of them
was only down for a matter of minutes,
while the other took several weeks to
recover. What made the difference in their
recovery time?
One Disaster, Two Scenarios
When the tornado hit, one company had
its supply chain operational software in the
cloud, while the other had all its systems,
including backup, on premise. Within
hours, one of them had automatically
redistributed all data entry, customer
service, billing, and administration tasks to
its branches in Brisbane and Melbourne.
All jobs were simply reassigned to the next
available agent in a seamless process that
kept their customers operating. Employees
worked from home in the following days,
through their secure log-in to the company’s
complete file set. There was no disruption to
its business, no damage to its reputation.
The other company lost everything.
They scrambled to find temporary
accommodations, buy new IT equipment
and resorted to handling business manually
on paper, effectively putting its operations
out of action. Ultimately, they also had to
restore their customers’ faith in their service.
Yes, there were dramas for both companies
as they had to relocate and fit out new
offices. But guess which company simply
set up new equipment, logged in, and
resumed business as usual: the one with, or
the one without the cloud-hosted platform?
By taking the time in advance to have
a plan and set up their workflows, the
company operating in a cloud environment
was able to quickly, easily, and accurately
redistribute their jobs.
Guaranteeing Continuity
With businesses now so dependent on IT,
guaranteeing continuity is critical to survival.
Many of us still know how freight moves
using paper-based systems. We still know
how to write con notes and pick orders. But
maybe some of the new generation doesn’t.
Because they’ve grown up on automated
systems, they may not have the ‘old
knowledge’ to fall back on in a crisis.
Mark Connell, Senior Logistics Architect for WiseTech Global, explains how planning for the unexpected
can turn terrible catastrophe into a minor setback.
Plan NOW to
Prevent Data Disaster LATER