Promises in the Dark: How the UP 04 Conference Set an Example for Contingency Planning by John Boruvka

I've presented at plenty of conferences, but this was the first conference where the setting was so intimate that speakers actually presented by candlelight!

The UP 2014 conference coincided with the California's most powerful storm in five years, dubbed Stormageddon by the local news stations. Streets were flooded, flights were delayed, and the power went out at the conference venue. Yet, the conference producers for UP 2014 had a contingency plan- and the show did go on.

My presentation at the UP conference (which took place in the afternoon, after the lights came back on) was titled Contingency Planning and Risk Mitigation Strategies for Cloud-based Technology Transactions - and the theme of planning for any contingency couldn't have been more apt. At the conference, the organizers arranged a battery-powered light for the speaker and candles on the attendee tables. They also recorded the sessions to make sure that people who couldn't attend would be able to view the presentation at a later time.

Similarly, you also need to be prepared for any contingency in the world of cloud-based, or Software as a Service (SaaS), applications. Sure, most SaaS providers have a disaster recovery plan, but that plan is only in effect as long as the provider is in business. What happens to your data and your application if the provider goes bankrupt or they have an extended outage of service? That's why it is important to conduct due diligence and have a plan for the what-ifs and the maybes. Surprisingly, 79% of providers do not guarantee application continuity for their end users. To go back to my conference analogy, those people would be sitting in the dark without a presenter, or catching a flight home without learning anything.

The level of contingency planning depends on how critical the application is to users' daily business goals. The chart below advances from being stuck with trying to use litigation and the court system to fight for compensation for data loss, to a high availability system where software applications and data are replicated in real-time so users won't experience downtime. The first two lower boxes arguably don't really provide any real plan, but we have heard people resorting to them. From the third box up, these are real solutions that can be exercised and tested to make sure they will work as intended. These options vary depending on the criticality of the application.

SaaS subscribers need to make sure that they have conducted their due diligence and can ensure application continuity and access to their data no matter what happens to the provider. At the same time, providers should be working to instill trust and credibility for their subscribers to improve the value of their service and gain a competitive advantage.

If you didn't get a chance to catch my fireside chat version of this presentation, you can view it below via SlideShare. We'll also share the UP 2014 video when it's available.

Click here to learn more about how our SaasProtect services can help you mitigate any risk associated with your move to the cloud. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly at escrow@ironmountain.com.

Contingency Planning and Risk Mitigation Strategies for Cloud-based Technology Transactions

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2014/service-lines/technology-escrow/pro...
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