Ensuring business continuity is critical

Being able to provide an electronics solution is one thing, but enabling it to overcome the effects of a “crash” is vital, according to Nachi Mendelow, sales and marketing manager of systems specialists Compu- Clearing “We have to ensure ‘business continuity’ for our customers,” he told FTW. “Effectively, what we have been aiming for is that – no matter what happens – our clients will never find themselves in a situation where they are unable to work.” And, to provide this, Compu-Clearing has invested over R3-million to provide a full-scale ‘Disaster Recovery Plan’. “Internationally,” said Mendelow, “disasters normally refer to natural events such as hurricanes or earthquakes. But, in SA, our disasters are often quite different. “What we have become accustomed to are more in the line of power outages and theft of computers.” However, whatever the disaster at the customers’ premises or at Compu- Clearing itself, the company has that ‘Disaster Recovery Plan’ to fall back on and ensure business continuity. “Our central database servers help to ensure this,” Mendelow said. “Since all data is stored locally at Compu-Clearing, if the client’s computers disappear – no data is lost. We also immediately provide replacement machines.” A second safety factor is that – with all its servers Internet-enabled, both locally and internationally – customers are able to log in to their unique database from any place, anywhere in the world, with a basic Internet connection. This connectivity also helps to address issues like power outages, according to Mendelow. “Clients can go to any place where there is an Internet connection and continue their work,” he said. “This not only resolves electricity issues but also allows our customers to take work home with them for completion, when necessary.” The primary internal safety factor is that Compu- Clearing has also now built what Mendelow termed a “dual facility”, where all its servers are duplicated in a separate building. This means that if one of the buildings goes down, the second data centre will take over. Also, all data is backed-up on to magnetic tapes, which are taken off site daily. “Compu-Clearing has also built a ‘Customer Care Centre’, with training rooms, meeting rooms and an auditorium,” he added. “These rooms can be used by our customers to continue their work. Almost daily we have people using our facilities to frame entries.”