ICT Service Continuity Management

In today’s highly competitive, information-led world, organisations are increasingly dependent on information and communications technology (ICT) to meet their demanding objectives and keep their stakeholders happy.

Hence ICT Managers, in their capacity as custodians of IT systems and services and communications technology, must ensure the maximum uptime possible.

ICT Service Continuity, as the name suggests, is the discipline used by ICT Managers to keep systems and services available to end users no matter what bad things may occur. From loss of a single server, or critical component, through to a devastating loss of the corporate data centre these events can have serious consequences for the organisation’s health if key systems and services cannot be restored within acceptable time frames.

Resilience to failure means not just the ability to be able to recover systems and services quickly. It also means trying to prevent the bad things happening in the first place. Eliminating single points of failure, where practical and cost-justified, is only one focus area for ICT Service Continuity. Having disaster recovery strategies aligned with the business need, fully supported by response plans and technical procedures is essential. Of course, these strategies need to be tested regularly and staff must be trained in how to effect a recovery.

At Teed we have hands on experience of ICT management so we understand the pressures ICT Managers are under to ensure continuity of service. We also understand the requirements of standards and best practice, including ITIL, ISO27001, BS25999 and BS ISO/IEC 27031. Taken together we can help ICT Managers maximise uptime and ensure they are prepared for the worst.