As we head in to British springtime, UK is still counting the cost and dealing with the aftermath of months of wind, rain and chronic flooding, Cloud IT experts Net Solutions Europe (NSE) to comment on the importance of resilient IT systems to mitigate crisis management.
According to the latest statistics from the Met Office, the UK has experienced its wettest winter in almost 250 years, with businesses in Somerset alone reporting losses over £1.2 million (an average of £17,352 per business) in lost productivity.
“When premises become flooded and lose power or accessibility, the failings of traditional servers become painfully apparent,” says Tom Underhill of Cloud IT experts, Net Solutions Europe. “The natural solution for interruption to business because of adverse weather, power or IT failures, is for staff to continue working from home or a safer environment. However, if all files and processes are stored on internal physical servers, a business of any size can literally grind to a halt. Where flooding is concerned, water-damaged servers can be a disaster.”
“Cloud integration is a clear solution to this problem. With data stored virtually in a secure, purpose-built data centre, businesses can be confident that their information is highly secure regardless of what the weather conditions are, and that their files can be consistently accessed and updated from any remote location. If any member of staff is unable to get into work, as long as wherever they are has an internet connection, they can keep doing their job.”
“A big concern for some business owners is the cost implications of investing in new IT systems,” adds Tom, “but implementing Cloud can often be a cost-neutral exercise that adds flexibility and resilience. With a range of private, hybrid and public Cloud solutions available, it’s possible for a business with a budget of any size to adopt the trend and protect their productivity and files.”
Cloud applications are now streamlining key processes such as email, storage, backup, HR, billing, CRM, and accounting for both small and large businesses. In fact, the Financial Times recently reported that nearly a quarter of all the UK’s IT spend is on the implementation of Cloud services that will ensure businesses can be much better equipped to maintain business continuity during ever more common weather disruptions.