HP Tech Forum 2007 - questions needed

[Chuck Ciesinski]

Hi everybody,

Once again I’ll be moderating a panel at this years HPTF in Las Vegas, and I need your help!

I’m looking for a lot of questions to give my panelists on “How to get your Business Continutiy Plan” off the ground.

What is it that you need? IF you have questions about how to get management support and buy-in, equipment, an inventory of data, applications, and software, how do staff a BCP, what sort of services are available. This years panel has a wealth of background and experience to help YOU, provided you send me the questions you want asked. Please post you questions here by Friday June 08 for point assignment...

Thanks in advance,

Chuck

[ed k. · Accepted solution]

Hi Chuck, there are tons of info with questions from customers and ITRC gurus including real life pain and success. Please use common sense and just go over posted questions and answers in ITRC forums. You are reminding me the person swimming in the ocean and asking for more water. Best Regards :-) Ed K.

[Chuck Ciesinski]

Ed,

It may seem like asking for more water, but, when the moderator of a panel can ask a question and put a name and company directly with it, the question takes on more meaning to the panelists. I've been leading panel discussions since HPWorld 1998, in San Diego, CA, and the pre-submitted question from REAL users from REAL companies always works best.

[Gloria Santos Eperthene]

Hi, it appears to me that you are the person I need with help in buying a PC., although I can not help you with yours, maybe my question (input) will help.
The following was a question I asked on the general forum and my reply was to go to HP web site and that what I was looking for is impossible to get all, my question, as follows:
New to every scope of P.C. knowledge. I need to know what wireless, sm. lightweight notebook that can be networked wireless to home station computer that comes with the needed software to run a small business operation, word processing, letters, spread sheets and do general search info via internet at the lowest cost.
Thanking you in advance for a reply.

[Joel Belizario]

Hi Chuck,

I'm surprised you haven't been overwhelmed with responses yet!

I've just recently located so I am not affiliated with a company but I would like to know how often a BCP should be reviewed according to best practices.

I know it's a bit vague and highly dependent upon the organisation itself but I recently experienced a situation at a client's where they had apparently written up a BCP 2 years ago and the consulting company I worked for was trying VERY hard to convince them that whatever was put in place did not meet their existing requirements and was woefully out of date.

Thanks
Joel

[Joel Belizario]

Gloria you are better off going down to your local computer reseller to get the answers to your questions - this also isn't the right place to be asking how to buy PCs for a startup business. These forums are primarily for technical discussion and also with a focus on HP equipment.

Your local reseller is in a much better position to advise you what you need to buy based on how you want to run your business, plus you will be dealing with a live person rather than hoping someone will answer your question online.

Good luck!
Joel

[Jov]

Hi Chuck,

Not sure if will help, but what part or degree does DR play in regards to most Business Continuity Planing?

Obviously to most organisations it â shouldâ be pivotal, but is it the main component or does it consume most BCP resources and focus?

Also how does one draw the line if there are both a DR programme of works and one for BCP? Or does this not ever happen?

I can envision this to be a possibility as the demarcation of DR is for primary site not being able to operation (mostly), where as BCP does not necessary just including such scenarios. e.g. a core application component is offline due to hardware failure on the primary site, but does not justify enabling DR as there is a cost overhead involved. Who owns such a scenario and where does one draw the line?


Jov

[Pat Flanagan]

Chuck,

From the perspective of a small business: We're a small mortgage company. I used to be the "Administrator", running 1 server and 17 workstations in one office. I'm mostly a workstation guy, but managed to learn the server side enough to get by and figure out resolutions to most the problems as they came up.

Since that time we've grown significantly, now on Citrix, running our own Exchange server, 3 branch offices with VPN connection, etc. We've hired a Network Engineer full-time because our network quickly got over my head with the rapid growth and conversion to Citrix.

Prior to that, while I was the Administrator of the much smaller company, security, data protection & backup, continuity, and disaster recovery were constant concerns of mine.

I discovered quickly while researching them, that most of the nuts and bolts practical information is technical and hard to follow on a user level. Combining that with the increasingly complex Federal and State regulations, it becomes necessary to hire a specialist to deal with it.

The breaking point for us, when we realized we could no longer handle this ourselves, was the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act,and the implementing regulation for our business, the FTC Safeguards rule (16CFR314 if I remember correctly). The cost of a competent specialist or specialist company in this area is generally prohibitive for a small business, but in our case was essential because we're dealing with the non-public personal information of our customers.

So I perceive a disconnect in the community. Large companies can afford, and indeed must have, competent staff or contractors to deal with all this.

However, what's a small business to do? Especially those that really can't afford the overhead of specialty tech support but must still assure the continuity of their business and compliance with laws and regulations.

I think that small businesses with limited resources, many of whom do not have technical staff, is a segment of continuity that has not been addressed. There really are no step-by-step, this is what you should do, plain language, resources that I'm aware of.

I'd like to point out that even your initial question assumes a large business "how to get management support and buy-in" and "how do staff a BCP" for example.

I would like to suggest the community consider a small business outreach in this area.

Pat

[Chuck Ciesinski]

To all who replied, a BIG thank you. Bill Hassell is actually going to lead the panel for me due to a company travel freeze.

Enjoy the points.. and keep the forum the best tool for immedaite information exchange.

chuck