Contrary to some thinking, a Business Continuity plan is not complete just because a solution has been designed and certain infrastructure has been deployed to a client site. The infrastructure must be managed, software and data assets backed up and stored securely, plans must be tested and connectivity for remote access monitored.

For a fixed monthly fee, BSG will ensure that all these elements are managed: that back ups are taken and stored securely, that third party office and connectivity providers are monitored and managed, that a test of any plan is conducted on a semi-annual or annual basis, whilst always ensuring that the infrastructure deployed is still appropriate for the organisation for which it was designed.

Depending on the solution provided, BSG will commit to both:

• Recovery Point Objective (RPO) - The maximum time before the disaster happens for which the business is prepared to allow data to be lost - i.e. the time between data back-ups
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO) - The maximum time the business can tolerate a discontinuity of service. This can vary from minutes, for example when a cluster fails over from one server to another, to days while new equipment is supplied, and applications and data restored.

The Service Delivery Manager has the day to day operational responsibility for a client account. S/he will check on a daily basis if service levels are being met and if performance targets are being achieved for each client for whom s/he is responsible. S/he will ensure that control processes are constantly adhered to, thus ensuring maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the service. It is his/her job to check aspects of the service such as data backup and restore, application replication, server performance, connectivity and testing procedures.

Working in partnership with the Service Delivery Manager, the Account Manager will ensure proactive account management as well as day to day client satisfaction. S/he will ensure that the solution continues to meet the RPO for data recovery and RTO for application availability, which new technologies are explored and, if necessary tested, and that high levels of client service are sustained in order to ensure that future business needs are met equally efficiently.

BSG has high level accreditations and long standing experience working with major vendors, enabling it to take ownership of applicable vendor support contracts. This ensures that our clients don't have to take these contracts out separately, which means they benefit from reduced costs and management overheads.

With a business continuity solution typically involving at least one third party to provide connectivity from the client site to the data centre, it is essential that BSG is able to underpin its service levels with those of other organisations who are helping provide the overall solution. BSG often finds it useful to organise third parties such that they can all agree and operate against an Operational Level Agreement (OLA) which combines the SLA's of all third party providers and ensures that all SLA's support each other to make the overall client objective achievable.

From design through to deployment, BSG will work with each individual client to facilitate the transition and, where necessary, incorporate existing business continuity systems into the design proposed by BSG. Where possible, BSG will use pre-designed business continuity solutions, e.g. for Microsoft Exchange, which enables the cost of testing and deployment to be minimised. For bespoke application solutions, BSG will ensure the business continuity design is fully tested before and after deployment, to ensure it meets the client expectations. Any project to design and install such a solution will be managed with proven project management methodologies which are certified under the group's ISO9001 accreditation.

By offering certain administration services, BSG can effectively remove the need for a client to administer its IT business continuity arrangements. This includes the provision by BSG of security patch application, software replication, ensuring that testing is undertaken, ensuring backup and restore procedures are functioning, monitoring connectivity hardware and application performance and availability.

BSG is able to offer regular reporting in respect of both standard and bespoke elements of any service.

Typically, BSG provides a monthly availability report using a range of monitors - reporting on server, application and connectivity availability, with additional reporting available as required

In addition, BSG will provide a report for each pre-defined test, which will report against a set of defined criteria, including RTO and RPO performance against SLA.

Businesses change and so will the business continuity needs. BSG provides a comprehensive change control process imposing a necessary degree of discipline on the way technology is allowed to grow and develop within an organisation. Uncontrolled changes to a firm's IT infrastructure can lead to the business continuity requirements being left behind and could lead to potential invocation and security issues.

As an example of this, BSG provides its clients with the option for different RPO and RTO options for each aspect of the IT systems covered by the service. This can be changed, as the business requires. In addition, it is essential that replicated software is patched to the same level. BSG will ensure that each change is considered thoroughly in terms of risk and impact and executed via a clear and methodical process.

Business Continuity skills are currently highly desirable and therefore very expensive in the current environment, but once a plan is written and testing processes in place it is questionable whether a salary could be justified for this type of role on a permanent basis. BSG's managed BC service overcomes this issue allowing BSG's clients not only to benefit from the experience its staff have in designing and deploying business continuity solutions but also from the investment BSG has made in its network and data centre infrastructure to cater for the operation of this service.

BSG operates an ITIL compliant ServiceDesk for all of its clients. Operating best practice processes and procedures, the ServiceDesk offers the client a dedicated line of escalation for all IT problems. The real-time monitoring which BSG provides for business continuity generates electronic support requests to the ServiceDesk. Should an alert be triggered it will be logged, resolved or escalated as required and then reported upon systematically to ensure client satisfaction at all times.

As a ISO27001 provider of data centre and hosting activities, BSG will, if appropriate, host any applications or infrastructure required for the end solution in a Tier 1 data, using best practice operating procedures to provide an ongoing continuity solution for our clients. In addition, because of our continuing certification, all our data centre engineers are trained in security and attuned to designing and deploying systems with maximum security in mind. This is obviously of benefit to our clients when the final solution is being designed.

Business continuity planning is traditionally perceived as an expense, with no day-to-day operational benefits. BSG is aware of this and to overcome this perception, BSG is committed to ensuring that as often as possible, day to day operational benefits are also provided to our client. This may take the form of home and remote access to business applications for the workforce or taking over the responsibility of daily backups and storage from the internal IT team.

BSG's awareness of what technology its clients have and what new technology is becoming available in the rapidly changing business continuity market place ensures that it has the ability to roadmap and suggest how to make its clients' current solutions more efficient and effective, and to continue providing day to day benefits as well as providing continuity.

Whilst reporting is necessary both to ensure that the business continuity service is performing in line with business needs and that, as a provider, BSG is meeting all its obligations, the information collated for this purpose is a powerful and useful tool to ensure consistent improvement across the range of IT services.

BSG is adept at analysing such information and reporting upon it, to ensure that best use can be made of it for the future operational needs of the organisation. Constant awareness of backup and replication integrity, for example, ensures a permanent state of readiness and hence ensures effectiveness at the point of invocation.