How to ensure continuity for your business connectivity
We are all aware that we need to protect our businesses from various external factors in order to stay in business when something goes wrong. This is why we make computer backups, take out insurance and keep copies of important documents off site. The real challenge in our modern information age is to keep on operating when our communication lines go down. This is why it is so important to consider a redundancy plan in your business for internet connectivity, email and phone lines. The great news is that with the advent of digital communications, this has never been easier.
It is important to note that it doesn’t matter which type of connectivity you are using, there should always be a contingency plan in place. It can cost you dearly if you don’t have one. Saving R10 000 on your telephone might be one thing, but not being able to phone out for a month might cost you your business. Backup is vital.
A variety of back-up solutions needs to be implemented. You shouldn’t have a fibre line installed from one provider and use the same provide for backup. For instance, you install a Metro Fibre line with possibly a Vodacom backup. So, a completely different service provider is always a good idea. This eliminates the possibility that a whole network failure will leave you not being able to communicate and carry on with business as usual.
In an ideal scenario, Trunuty would, for instance, install a wireless link to a client and would have a normal landline as a backup. So that means two entirely different technologies and commodities. The one would be a copper or fibre line to the business, while the other would be a wireless connection. So in the event that one form of connectivity might fail, the other provides continuity.
The implications of ‘downtime’ aren’t merely financial. In some businesses, employees rely on telephonic access to do their jobs. The same goes for people who need internet access to complete their daily tasks. This is when the whole ‘downtime’ scenario becomes an even bigger problem. South Africa’s poor infrastructure in some areas, along with interrupted power supply due to theft or loadshedding, makes an alternative connectivity source imperative.
More and more businesses have contingency plans in place for power issues. They use UPSs and generators in case the power goes down. One of our clients is located in the middel of Johannesburg and faced a situation where all the lines went down. Fortunately, our client had a wireless back-up system installed on the roof and Trunuty was able to give them instant continuity thanks to that back-up plan.
With one ‘switched-on’ service provider with multiple backbone connections, continuity is simple. Don’t leave disaster planning to the day when the disaster strikes. Take action now!
