Business continuity provisions 'are vital'

Many companies are continuing to work without having effective business continuity provisions in place, it has been claimed.

According to small business commentator Jennifer Walzer, many firms see the processes of developing disaster recovery plans as being tedious and time-consuming, meaning they neglect these key considerations.

Writing for the New York Times, she explained that this can be a very dangerous game, with various unforeseen circumstances capable of threatening the survival of a company – including theft, natural disasters and hardware failure.

Alluding to the benefits of managed hosting, Ms Walzer stated: "Fortunately, data loss is easy to recover from if you have a backup solution in place."

While using hosting services to provide data centre back-up can eliminates business continuity risks, it may also help reduce costs, one expert has claimed.

Duncan Campbell, a Hewlett Packard vice-president, recently noted that server rooms can consume up to 30 per cent of a firm's energy – significantly contributing to expenditure.

Where managed hosting is adopted, businesses do require servers to run individual applications, therefore reducing their electricity bill.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry