Four questions for the owner
- What can we not work without?
- How long can we cope without it?
- How much work can we afford to lose?
- Who does what when it fails?
Set targets people understand
A recovery time objective, or RTO, is your target time to restore an activity: for example, an office might aim to receive customer calls again within two hours.
A recovery point objective, or RPO, is the maximum age of the data you aim to recover: for example, losing no more than one hour of bookings.
These are illustrative choices, not our promised service levels. Check whether your backup schedule, alternative route and staffing can actually meet them.
Our five-step approach
- List what matters to trading and customer care.
- Find the single points of failure behind each activity.
- Put a workable fallback behind each important dependency.
- Write the essential actions and contacts on two pages.
- Test the plan once a year and review it after changes.
Explore the continuity section
Put the advice into practice
Use our continuity checklist and the six continuity planning guides to prepare a conversation with the people responsible for your systems.
What we can do for you
We help you agree priorities, document workarounds and check the recovery arrangements. Continuity planning is quoted as a fixed fee after a free 30 minute call. The technical fallbacks use our standard prices.
| Technical fallback | From per month, plus VAT |
|---|---|
| Independent Microsoft 365 backup | £2.50 per user, included as standard in support agreements |
| Email filtering | £1.50 per user, not needed as an additional filter with Microsoft 365 Premium |
| Server backup with cloud failover | £35 per server |
| Desktop and laptop backup | £10 per device |
| Business phone system | £11 per user |
Monthly starting prices exclude VAT and use a 3 year term billed monthly. Shorter terms cost a little more. Your price and the actual fallback arrangements are confirmed in a written quote.
Questions about this service
Does a backup keep every service running?
No. Backup provides a recovery copy. Alternative access, replacement equipment, staff instructions and decisions are separate parts of a continuity plan.
Will you guarantee a recovery time?
We agree targets after reviewing the systems, dependencies and test results. A planning target or example is not a contractual recovery guarantee.
Is security monitoring an out-of-hours helpdesk?
No. Our security partner's analysts provide the contracted 24x7 account monitoring. Normal support hours are Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:30, excluding UK bank holidays.
Where should we start?
Call 01494 866668 for a free 30 minute planning conversation. Describe the activity you could least afford to lose and the arrangements already in place.
Free tools to help you prepare
Continuity planning guides
Continuity tools
- Free business continuity plan template for small businesses
- How much does an hour of IT downtime cost your business?
- Find your single points of failure
Use these planning aids to prepare a conversation. Do not put passwords or confidential records in a worksheet.
Related information
Talk to us about your business
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