Telecommunications Downtime and Recovery

Telecoms Outage Mitigation

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, fire, floods, hurricanes and man-made activities such as civil unrest, terrorism, vandalism, sabotage, staff error, hardware failure, software glitches can result in telecoms downtime. An outage in a business phone system will be expensive in terms of lost sales and business plus public perception and company reputation and an effective telecom recovery plan is essential in mitigating these costs.

Phone System Backup Services Replication of an entire in-house business phone system is the most comprehensive option in the prevention of telecom downtime. Various options exist from a backup system maintained off-site, or to outsource the service using a more cost effective hosted ‘virtual’ solution. Virtual systems can duplicate every aspect of the existing hardware phone system such as IVR menus, call routing and recording plus voicemail and messaging. During an outage calls can be diverted to off-site landlines such as home phones, plus mobiles and VoIP softphones. Callers will be unaware that a telecom outage has occurred as backup phone systems can be online within minutes. The business phone number continues to operate with callers being offered the usual menu options and the same IVR prompts, with calls routed through to the appropriate department or staff member.

Public Information Noticeboard

In the event of any telecom outage and during the telecom recovery period it is important to keep both the public and staff informed.

A Hosted Voice Noticeboard is a service allowing staff to record messages which can be accessed via a published phone number. This has a variety of uses such as press releases and product announcements with the added bonus that emergency information and outage updates can be posted.

As a minimum DR option a Voice Noticeboard will allow customers and staff to check in on progress. As an adjunct to a more comprehensive DR solution it can still be a resource for staff not directly involved to find out when the situation will be resolved and phone calls can be taken in the usual manner. Being a hosted service means it will not be affected by the localized phone system failure.

Including the Noticeboard Number in company literature and advertising ensures it's easily accessible when staff or customers wish to be updated.

Alerts and Messaging

The ability to alert staff, and customers if necessary, when an emergency occurs ensures that any telecom DR plan will be put into action as effectively as possible. Staff will be involved in the implementation of the DR plan and need to be informed immediately upon a phone system failure.

A Hosted Alert Service will offer the option to send messages via SMS, email or call staff on their landlines where available thereby ensuring a smooth transition to the recovery scenario.

TeleConference Facilities

Teleconferencing allows staff to liaise during the telecom recovery ensuring key staff are correctly positioned and supervisors are kept informed of progress via direct contact and online reports. Conference recording can also be useful for later discussion and evaluation.

Integration with a Voice Noticeboard and SMS Alerts completes the suite of hosted information services that can either mitigate the consequences of telecom downtime or be incorporated into a more comprehensive Telecom DR Plan.

Telecom Continuity

Ensuring continuity of business telecommunications ranks with any other area of company activity and should be evaluated and budgeted accordingly. From risk assessment through to backup option evaluation the process can be extensive and difficult, but the consequences of lengthy downtime can be devastating.