Posted by Matt Spada on Fri, Mar 19, 2010
I wanted to take a moment and talk about what's been going on at Agility over the last couple days...
As you're probably aware, there is flooding going on in a couple areas of the United States (during National Flood Awareness Week no less...), and (as of this writing) Agility has four ongoing recoveries taking place in our own little disaster recovery version of March Madness. We're responding to Members from New England all the way to North Dakota; in industries as diverse as banking, insurance and technology services. These recoveries include everything from providing laptops so that employees can work remotely, all the way to full recoveries (with mobile offices, technology, generators and satellites for connectivity).
It's pretty cool to watch my colleagues in our Client Services and Operations teams come together to reassure Members over the phone and coordinate the actual recoveries with the assistance of our incredible Operations staff in Atlanta and Mississauga - not to mention the teams out in the field doing the actual setup. While you can get your business back up and running by yourself, it has become clear to me that having trained experienced professionals on your side is invaluable. They know which questions to ask, can anticipate problems before they happen, and besides getting access to the obvious elements of recovery, they think of all the little things that will really add up over the next few days and weeks.
While the rest of the country will be spending their weekends enjoying March Madness and taking advantage of the beautiful Spring weather we're currently seeing in Charlotte - they'll be taking calls, setting up, and getting our Members back in business.
Here's to them - and their hard work over the next couple days.
To everyone else - have a great weekend, and stay dry.
Posted by Matt Spada on Mon, Dec 14, 2009
There's that inevitable point when meeting someone for
the first time... Usually it's immediately following the first awkward pause,
where whatever you were initially chatting about reaches a natural end, and you
find yourself staring down at the drink in your hand. At these moments, there
are a few go-to topics: a) the weather, b) [insert local sports team] and c) "what
do you do for a living?"
When I mention that I work for a disaster recovery company,
most people aren't exactly sure what that means (or if you're like my
grandmother, you envision your grandson dangling precariously out of
helicopter, rescuing small animals post-Katrina). And for the sake of casual
banter, the best way in my experience to explain disaster recovery is to equate
it to insurance. There are natural parallels - especially given how Agility
structures our services into memberships - you pay us a small monthly fee, and if
you ever need us, we're there. No matter what.
Of course, having a business continuity plan and having
insurance are not the same things.
But they are complimentary to each other, and when used effectively, together they
can be the glue that holds your business together during an interruption. In
addition, there are also many misconceptions about the roles and interactions of
business continuity plans and insurance. Complex policies and coverages can lead to equally
daunting questions, such as:
- Is building a continuity plan enough?
- Do we carry enough coverage on our building?
- What costs would be incurred during a recovery?
This Wednesday, December 16th at 2pm, Agility Recovery Solutions will
be hosting another installment of our free webinar program, featuring Donald
Long, Manager of Business Risk and Continuity Planner with Kingsway America, Inc.
Don has more than twenty years experience on the subject, and the program will
be an incredibly valuable experience, as he discusses how to address these
questions and more.
Listen in, watch and learn. At the very least, there won't
be any awkward pauses.
- Matt Spada
Agility Recovery Solutions
Agility Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Solutions
blog.agilityrecovery.com
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