A number of households and businesses in the U.K. have yet to commit to readiness and preparedness when disaster strikes; disasters include a natural or human-induced catastrophe, systems and communications failures, or network outages that affect part or all of a business's resources.
Telappliant, an established Internet telephony company in the U.K. and a supplier of VoIP business solutions, reports that many British people undervalue the importance of a plan for recovery if their homes were to be damaged. The post discloses, for examples, that “new findings in a survey commissioned by PwC and carried out by YouGov [that] shows more than a quarter (27 percent) of people are living without insurance that protects them in the event of flooding.”
The same mindset could be troublesome for a business too. Even severe weather phenomena have been known to cause power problems for facilities. What would Britons do in catastrophic events - such as flooding - that suddenly shutdowns their organization? Or with no access and use of data files on a PC, and/or a congestion of message traffic piling up in a network? What will it take before they decide on implementing a plan that deals with recovery and restoral procedures?
Knowing that catastrophic events associated with flooding or extreme weather conditions can overwhelm communications grids and occur at any time, it makes sense to have a smart disaster preparedness plan, which should include a VoIP system. In such cases, having a back-up plan or a disaster recovery plan (DRP) in place for IT-related infrastructure recovery, can really make the difference.
Having a backup solution can ensure continuation of operations. Even power protection (to keep data and applications running smoothly) ought to be a part of that planning process. Perhaps, businesses may find it apt to deploy VoIP on a distributed environment as a means to further strengthen one’s preparedness and protect investment if a disaster occurs.
Migrating to a VoIP-based system could be the answer and be extremely beneficial to a workplace for supporting converged or unified communications. The right VoIP vendor that offers well-defined disaster recovery services can help minimize system downtime and provide automatic recovery by falling over to another server on site. To facilitate recovery, the VoIP equipment carrier maintains backup copies of the system and database in secure areas. Not only are service providers able to ensure business continuity while another’s system is being recovered, their VoIP services can also help protect against threats from outside and inside the organization as well.
Furthermore, assuming there is no damage to one’s own network infrastructure, opting for VoIP could help keep operations running seamlessly by allowing employees to work remotely. Business VoIP allows for a distributed workforce and is apt for many companies in the U.K. that are also struggling with staff absence rates, as per another post by Telappliant Ltd.
In sum, rolling out the latest VoIP solutions in advance, to avoid unnecessary downtime caused by incidents, seems an obvious starting point. VoIP signifies for businesses cheaper calling costs; employees can work from home, if they like, with their bosses able to stay in touch with them, as needed, to pass on information and instructions even after disaster strikes. If a business does discover there is damage to their own network infrastructure, a VoIP connectivity is able to divert message traffic to another device or location, if necessary. That way, while using a device in a completely different location, employees can still be productive.
Overall, Britons need to be more prepared, considering widespread outages could happen, unexpectedly, and might have a widely impact on their business. Understanding the interaction between large urban disasters and the telecommunications infrastructure, businesses can consider integrating VoIP recovery into their network and/or IT disaster plans. The growing use of these tools in emergency situations could provide unprecedented communications capabilities to a wide range of people in the U.K. that have yet to invest in VoIP technology. The decision could play a crucial role in crisis communications and help overcome the consequences of equipment failure.
Edited by Alisen Downey