Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | C | Chartered Management Institute: Checklists: Operations and Quality

Business continuity planning for telecoms services.

Article Excerpt
The purpose of this checklist is to provide a brief guide to business continuity planning based upon the methodology successfully adopted by a number of companies, who regard telecommunications as a business-critical service.

Introduction

The successful maintenance of telecommunications is critical to almost all companies. The inherent resilience of telecommunications equipment, both within and external to the organisation, has led many companies into a false sense of security. As technology changes, some of this inherent resilience is sacrificed in the drive to reduce costs and increase functionality. This potential reduction in resilience, coupled with an increasing dependence on telecommunications, has increased the need for effective business continuity planning.

Business continuity planning for telecommunications must be viewed as only one part of an organisation's overall business continuity plan. Successful business continuity planning for telecommunications depends upon an ordered consideration of all areas relating to the telecoms provision to the organisation.

Areas Affected

The effective provision of telecommunications services within an organisation depends upon the successful combination of equipment, people and external services. Failure of just one part of the overall structure can result in major adverse consequences to the organisation. Potential failure areas to be considered include:

* telephone PBX systems

* operator terminals

* call centres

* key systems

* voicemail and unified messaging systems

* interactive voice response (IVR) systems

* computer/telephony integration (CTI) systems

* fax machines and modems

* incoming and outgoing network services

* building services for telecoms equipment

* building access for users.

Action Checklist

Many of the areas of telecommunications provision fall within the direct management of the organisation, but some critical services reside beyond the organisation's control.

1....

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!