Continuity Planning 101 - A Continuing Educational Series: The Minimalist Guide for Procrastinators

Procrastination is a type of behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision — Wikipedia.

The three basic phases of a continuity plan are:

Phase 1: Planning — The most critical of the three phases which begins with a full assessment of your business readiness.

Phase 2: Business Continuity — The key is to define what level of interruption is unacceptable and develop an avoidance plan.

Phase 3: Recovery — This phase is directly and inversely proportional to Phase 1. No Phase 1 means the recovery time could be infinite (I.e. your company is no longer in business).

Of course, if you are a procrastinator, you have not even begun the assessment stage of Phase 1 so your company is definitely at risk. If this is you, some checklist tips:

1. Think hosted services for data backup. This is the quickest, most efficient and most reliable method for operations of any size.
2. VoIP, Fax and Email — Office premise equipment can be backed up using an employee home office with broadband service but hosted solutions (either as full-time solutions or failover) would be best since they are totally mobile and dependable.
3. Employee mobility — Laptops are essential. Home broadband connectivity is easy to implement. A relocation plan for alternate lodging can be as simple as selecting one or more hotels with highspeed access.

Fortunately today’s IP world has provided convenient and inexpensive solutions for companies of all sizes. Plus they are so simple to implement even a procrastinator will have trouble finding excuses.

The suggestions listed above are not intended to dissuade our readers from developing a full continuity plan but as an interim step to provide short-term protection. TMC (News - Alert) and the DPCF team also recommend that you seek out consultants and resellers specializing in business continuity to develop a comprehensive plan.

For more information please go to: www.tmcnet.com/disaster-planning/ or contact Max Schroeder at [email protected]. You can also visit the Disaster Planning Pavilion at ITEXPO (News - Alert) West 2008 the LA Convention Center www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/. IT

Max Schroeder (News - Alert) is the Senior Vice President of FaxCore, Inc. (www. faxcore.com) and Managing Director of the DPCF.

Rich Tehrani is the President and Group Editor-in-Chief at TMC and is Conference Chairman of Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Conference & EXPO.

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