Can Palmtop Computers Protect Your Business?

Everybody Agrees?

On January 17, 1994, Los Angeles suffered a major earthquake. Geologists called it a moderate quake, but to business people fearful of losing their businesses it was not moderate! Few companies doubt they need a Disaster Recovery Plan for their Data Center. Many even believe that if a disaster strikes, this plan will protect them; it will empower them to continue business operations in the face of a disaster. I challenge this belief. Sacrilege? Maybe...

Two days after a disaster like the LA quake, your data center may be up and running again using information that is only 3 days old. Would that help your business? Could your sales people call in their sales? Could your customer service people service your customers? Could shipping ship? Could receiving receive? If you are like most companies, you would be unable to fulfill your business missions with only a data center up and running.

Thursday, January 20, was the fourth day following the earthquake. Many businesses with fully tested Disaster Recovery Plans were barely in business at all. Their big computers were working well at their pre-arranged locations, but their businesses were at a standstill. These companies had their raw data in tact, but they lacked the capability to conduct business.

If you are ever in such a situation, you may be more able to stay in business if you have given your people a little data and a lot of power -- portable, friendly, and useful Palmtop equipment. Palmtop equipment can become a centerpiece of a full Business Resumption Plan.

A Data Center Recovery without a full Business Resumption Plan can lull you into complacency, and delay the planning activities required to prevent non-recoverable or even fatal losses. Perhaps this complacency explains why 43% of companies that experience major disasters go out of business within one year.

Palmtop equipment, together with notebook computers and desktop PCs can provide an inexpensive way to bridge the gap between the data center computer specialists and the people who keep your business going. Business Resumption Planning using palmtop technology can help you suvive. Understanding and acting on these issues can make the difference between being one of the 43% that goes out of business and being one of the companies that survives and flourishes.

I Want It Now!

In past years, computer systems were information reporting tools. You found your computers in the computer room. Today, information technology has penetrated into virtually every aspect of business operations. Now you find your computers in the computer room, on desks, in phone systems, in cars, in people's pockets, and everywhere else.

In the 1960's and 1970's, if you called a company for information about your account, you might hear a response such as, "I'm sorry, but our computers are down. Could you please call back later?" Frustrating? Yes, but it was routine. You may not even have expected an immediate answer. Today, if you phone for information on an order you placed or a payment you made, you expect customer service to have the status available instantly. If they do not, then you will likely think them inefficient. Twenty years ago you would not have expected it instantly; today you demand it now!

Computer Empowerment

Information technology enables companies to provide customers with timely, accurate information. Customers expect it -- some companies even attract customers by advertising this capability. Federal Express recently aired a television commercial the theme of which was the customer's ability to obtain immediately the status of a delivery order. That capability exists because the customers use standard data communications technology to access a data base that is maintained by hand held computers communicating through wireless channels. Information and communications technology helps companies to provide new levels of customer service and thereby gain a competitive edge.

Customer service is just one area in which information technology has become important. From order entry to customer support, purchasing through production, and from receiving to shipping, information technology provides companies with new and better ways to operate. From forklifts outfitted with wireless computers to sales people on the road typing into their Wizards or writing on their Newtons, technology has grown beyond a reporting tool: it is an integral part of corporate operations and plays a key role in achieving and maintaining the competitive advantage.

What Are You Protecting?

You are protecting your ability to conduct business. Without your phones and a place for your order takers to work, you will take no new orders. Without your LANs and other client/server capabilities, you may be unable to translate data into useful information. Without your dedicated communications lines, you may be unable to service your high volume customers and vendors. Your data center may be fully operational, but you may still be out of business.

Why is this so? Because we have been successful. Over the past two decades we have integrated technology into our every day lives and have brought processing power from the machine rooms into our work rooms, onto our desktops and into our pockets. Our information has moved with it, from the data center's tape storage room to the desktop disk drive, the PCMCIA card, and the Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and messaging systems.

Protecting the data center and the information it contains is still an important element in protecting the company, but it is no longer enough. It may not even be the place to begin. We first need to protect the company's ability to continue operating.

The Protections Of Business Resumption Planning

Business Resumption Planning is a process that provides the four necessary safeguards: (1) protect your assets and resources, (2) reduce the risks associated with disasters, (3) provide the capability to continue operating during a disaster, and (4) plan recovery and a return to normal operations. Each of these four protections strengthens the company. Together, they help ensure that even if a disaster destroys a major facility, you will survive.

The Data Center Disaster Recovery Plan will likely be an important part of the Business Resumption Plan, since the data center often contains the critical data the company needs to continue operations. The data center, however, may require 48 hours or more to become operational at a backup site. Transport of tapes and personnel, loading of systems and data, and resolving unforeseen problems take time.

Palmtop equipment provides three critical advantages unique to hand-held devices. First, complete portability helps ensure that your people will have the equipment available when they need it. Sometimes, notebook computers are used as business resumption tools. Employees are given notebook computers to use at the office and to take home at the end of each day. The notebook, however, is frequently in the office long after the employee has gone home. The long meeting in another building persuaded the employee to leave without going back to the office. The full briefcase just could not hold one more item. A palmtop device, fitting in pocket, purse or briefcase is seldom left in the office.

The palmtop can contain the names, emergency contact phone numbers, and other information about key corporate personnel. It can contain regularly updated customer contact and order information. It can even contain maps and diagrams, detailed instructions about where to go and what to do. It may not replace the mainframe, but it can certainly replace the rolodex and substitute for the desk.

Second, wired and wireless communications capabilities increase the probability that information and messages can flow as needed. Plug it into a wall outlet and exchange regular mail messages with a host of WAN messaging systems. Plug it into some cellular systems, and it can do the same via special messaging systems, the Internet, and even to your company's backup LAN gateway. The phones may be down, but the information can still flow.

Third, the palmtop equipment will aid individuals in helping their families at the same time that they help the business. Encourage your people to use the palmtops for home and office, and you will encourage them to keep it with them always.

The combination of these three factors makes certain that your capabilities continue because your people will have more than the equipment and the communication -- they will have the motivation to keep them handy. Nothing but a palmtop can make it happen in this way.

Recover Your Capabilities, Continue Your Business

Today's marketplace is information driven. Lose your information and you lose your advantage. The results could be lost sales; there could also be lost market share, lowered levels of customer satisfaction, and lost prestige. Years of building can be shattered by days of lost capability. Recognition of this fact has fostered the growth of data center recovery planning. Recover your data center and you recover your data. But you still may be unable to support your customers. If that is so, then you will still lose.

Business Resumption Planning recognizes these limitations and provides alternatives for the immediate disaster aftermath. Business Resumption planning involves more than computers, it includes people, files, and operating knowledge. After all, without the knowledge, there would be no business.