Business Continuity Made Easy!
Does your business have a business continuity and disaster recovery plan? I didn't think so. And in this you are not alone. Most small and medium sized businesses have inadequate, outdated or nonexistent BC/DR plans.

Fear not. Although business continuity is a complicated and time-consuming issue, there are ways to simplify the concepts and bring them into your business, regardless of its size.

First of all it is necessary to understand the terminology of BC and DR.

Business Continuity Planning - Planning efforts done in advance to determine the processes and procedures an organization needs to put in place to ensure that essential business functions can continue during and after a disaster. Business continuity planning seeks to prevent interruption of mission-critical business services, and to re-establish full functioning as swiftly and smoothly as possible.

Disaster Recovery Planning - Planning efforts done in advance to determine the processes and procedures an organization needs to put in place to ensure that essential IT functions can continue during and after a disaster. Disaster Recovery Planning seeks to prevent interruption of mission-critical IT services, and to re-establish full functioning as swiftly and smoothly as possible.

As you can see the definitions for both are nearly identical with one exception. - Business Continuity relates to the planning around business functions while Disaster Recovery relates to functions for IT services.

The reason business continuity/disaster recovery planning is so difficult is that it is completely different for every business. There is no true standard. Business characteristics such as business lifecycle, risk tolerance, industry setting and competitive threats all affect a company's business continuity/disaster recovery plan. To be effective in your planning, you have to know your business intimately and understand what the mission-critical areas are - then implement the actions that will protect those areas in the event of a business interruption.

The following is a very simplistic outline of action items for Business Continuity planning. The items have been placed in a somewhat progressive order, although your business needs may allow you to reorder or skip areas of the list. The list is meant to reduce the complexity of a full business plan by breaking it down into small pieces that can be implemented over time, each with its own risk mitigation potential.

Over the next several months we will delve into the details of each section.

Company Review (details below)
Step 1 - Continuous Communication (details below)
Step 2 - Offsite Backup for Critical Data
Step 3 - Collocated or Dedicated Servers
Consultation with Business Continuity Planner
Step 4 - Business Continuity Workspace

Incidentally, this process was created jointly by LightEdge Solutions and representatives from DisasterRecovery.com and is not meant as a replacement for business continuity consultation. We hope that this will allow small and medium sized businesses to achieve some level of risk mitigation in steps that are easy to implement.

Company Review
Prior to implementing a BC/DR plan it is important to look critically at your business and identify both the mission-critical business and IT functions. This will be different for every business, but will often include: communications, accounting records and database, sales database and operational materials (knowledge base, software source code, contracts).

Executives and managers of the company should separately identify the business and IT functions that must be continued or immediately recovered in the event of a business incident or disaster. After compiling the list, the group should meet and agree on what elements are most critical and how they should be addressed to minimize risk to the company.

Step 1 - Communication
Convert to Hosted Communication
One of the most impactful area of you business is undoubtedly communication. Without communications, even for a short time, there is a disconnect and your prospects have to make a determination if they can wait to hear from you or if they need to find another vendor. Because communication is fundamental to nearly all businesses, we have made communications the first step in our Business Continuity Pyramid.

To ensure that you are able to communicate through a business event that may force you to remain away from your office, you need to have the capability to quickly redirect communications to alternate sites.

Phones
Traditional phones utilize an on-premises PBX device. If your business interruption requires you to work away from the physical office it is difficult to redirect calls without dial-in capability to the PBX or assistance from your PBX vendor.

As an alternative, Hosted PBX VoIP systems are implemented and managed in a secure offsite data center. Administrative and personal configuration settings can be access securely from any browser with Internet access. Employees can quickly and effectively reroute all business lines to alternate phones (cell phones or alternate land lines) in the event of a business interruption, and quickly return them once normal activities have been restored - all without the need of administrative intervention.

E-mail
Without their office computer, many employees are completely cut off from their e-mail. A business interruption of just a few days means that potentially thousands of e-mails will go without a response until normal service can be restored. This disconnect from clients, partners, vendors and prospects can be problematic in the short-term and devastating in the long-term.

Hosted Microsoft Exchange offers employees the ability to send and receive messages, access calendars and task lists from any location. Through Outlook Web Access, or wireless mobile access your employees can remain connected through a business interruption that forces them out of the office.

Next month - Step 2 - Offsite Backup for Critical Data

Scott Riedel
Product Marketing Manager

BC/DR definitions by DisasterRecovery.com

LightEdge News

Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year - Finalist
Jim Masterson, Chairman and CEO of LightEdge Solutions, has been selected as a finalist for the 2006 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award. LightEdge is one of only 18 companies in the region to advance to the finals.

Jim recently met with Ernst and Young representatives in Des Moines and traveled to Kansas City to meet with judges at a C-level reception.

Selection for the regional Entrepreneur Of The Year will be held in June. Should Jim win the award for the Central Midwest Region, he will be eligible to compete at the national event held in Palm Springs on November 16-19.

Over the past 20 years, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® award has developed the reputation as the most prestigious honor for entrepreneurs. Previous Entrepreneur Of The Year winners include individuals who have built some of business's most recognizable names: Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Pierre Omidyar of eBay, Inc., Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, Inc., Howard Schultz of Starbucks Corp., Catherine L. Hughes and Alfred Liggins of Radio One, and Jim McCann of 1-800-Flowers.com.

Read More

LightEdge Acquires Business Division of NexGen Integrated Communications
Executives at LightEdge Solutions recently finalized a strategic acquisition of the assets and customers related to NexGen Integrated Communications' business division. This acquisition strengthens LightEdge's position as the leader in business-grade Voice, Data and IT services in Iowa and surrounding states.

NexGen will retain its residential business and continue under the name NexGen Integrated Communications.

Product Updates

• Mobile Wireless Functionality for Hosted Microsoft Exchange - LightEdge has added functionality for wireless mobile access to Microsoft Exchange for Active-sync enabled devices. This includes most Windows Mobile and Palm devices. The additional functionality is included in Hosted Exchange at no additional cost. This functionality will be available before the end of June. Contact LightEdge Solutions to learn more.
  
  
• Storage Rate Reduction for Hosted Microsoft Exchange - Rates for additional Hosted Microsoft Exchange e-mail storage have been decreased by over 50%. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, LightEdge supports a carrier-grade Hosted Microsoft environment providing maximum uptime for your business.
  
  
• Rate Reduction for Voice Conferencing - Rates for reservationless, 800-based voice conferencing services have been reduced. The LightEdge voice conferencing service is an On-Demand service with no monthly service charges. Users are only billed when the service is used.
  
  
• Disaster Recovery Workspace - The EdgeBCC offers small and medium sized businesses the opportunity to continue their critical business processes despite a business interruption. LightEdge is beginning to work with businesses on "letters of intent" for seats in the disaster recovery workspace at EdgeBCC. These workstations are provisioned with desktop computers and VoIP handsets. If you are interested in learning more about the DR Workspace, contact LightEdge Solutions.
  
  
• Business Continuity Center Rack-space/Cage-space - With the ability to withstand 200 mph winds and redundant power supplies, the EdgeBCC offers businesses unparalleled protection for their technical infrastructure. Businesses interested in Rack-space or Cage-space within the EdgeBCC should start working with their Territory Account Manager now to ensure that space is available in November.

Current LightEdge Promotions

Hosted PBX VoIP Productivity Bundle
$1,499 down/$699 per month
The VoIP bundle is a full phone replacement for small businesses. The package includes up to T1 Internet Access, 5 hosted PBX seats, 5 Polycom phones, one auto attendant, fax line and Cisco router. Each seat includes 500 minutes of outbound domestic long distance calling.
Click here for more

Converged Access Trunk Bundle
$469 per month with no upfront costs
Prepare for the future by eliminating your telcom lines and converging your voice system with your data/Internet connection. Converged access does not require new phones or retraining for your staff. Infinite scalability is provided by creating a hybrid system with Hosted PBX seats. Once your voice and network systems are converged, you can gradually migrate to a fully hosted system.
Click here for more

Hosted Microsoft Exchange
One Month Free
Get all of the benefits of Microsoft Exchange without the infrastructure, maintenance and cost of a premises-based solution. Hosted Exchange through LightEdge is so much more than just e-mail - it allows remote e-mail accessibility through the web, schedule collaboration for better productivity, spam and virus filtering and active directory integration - all in a completely managed environment.
Click here for more

Managed Backup and Recovery
One Month Free
Your business clearly suffers when you have periods of data downtime. LightEdge Solutions' Managed Backup and Recovery allows you to backup your critical data to an offsite data center at multiple times during business hours for quick and easy recovery.
Click here for more

Voice and Web Conferencing
2 week Free Trial
Experience the ease and control of Reservationless, On-Demand Voice and Web Conferencing. With your free trial you can set up virtual meetings instantaneously. On-Demand pricing means there are no monthly service charges. You only pay for what you use.
Click here for more

Lunch and Learn Sessions
The Lunch and Learn format is a free, informal gathering to share information on a topic. There is no sales pressure and no expectations. Our goal is simply to promote better understanding of technical topics that could impact your business and give you the "competitive edge".

June Lunch and Learn Topic:

Advanced Voice Solutions: Voice-over-IP Demystified

While there's a lot of buzz around Voice-over-IP technology, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding it. Many businesses are interested in VoIP, but don't know enough about it to make good decisions.

This lecture will provide you with a broad background on the different types of VoIP available and the differences between each. We'll also explain upgrade paths and hybrid systems so you know the options as your company grows.

Come enjoy lunch and learn more about what VoIP can do for your business.

Register today!

For more information on Lunch and Learn topics, locations and dates, refer to the LightEdge Events Page or contact your Territory Account Manager.

Events