Business continuity, backup and disaster recovery plan Research Paper

Business continuity, backup and disaster recovery plan - Research Paper Example The purpose of this research paper is to define what this plan is, analyze its components and effectively see its overall success and limitations. Business Continuity is a planning process that provides a framework to ensure survival of a business at any presenting risk. It insures the future of the business with respect to key customers, business reputation and suppliers. (Bell. J., June 2000). The components of the business continuity life cycle include; Analysis, Solution design, Implementation, Testing & acceptance and Maintenance. Business continuity plans need to be clear and concise. They should clarify all the protocol and procedures to be followed in the event of a disaster. It should be part and parcel of any business. (Harney, J., 2004). We will consider the above five steps in coming up with an effective business continuity plan. Analysis Here, we formulate a list of potential vulnerabilities within the business. That is, whether risk pose within the resource department, or systems, processes, or suppliers. Therefore, it implies a consideration of each department separately. We analyze the overall performance of each department with regards to its input in the business. ... Business-driven risks include application outages, or surplus from marketing demand-generation campaigns. They may cause business-wide ramifications that result in breaches in compliance, governance, availability, security and performance. (IBM Global, June 2011). If left unattended, they may cause concern to the top management and stakeholders. Data-driven risks focus on a wide range of factors such as disk failure, corruption, viruses or exponential data growth. This impacts negatively on the business. Event-driven risks disrupt the company’s personnel, processes, applications and infrastructure. They present as power outages, natural disasters, pandemics, fires, and thefts. (IBM Global, June 2011) Solution design Once we have identified potential risks after a rigorous analytical method. Then we strategize on the solution design process. (Dimattia, S., November 15, 2000). We customize the solution to the risks. A robust resilience solution for business-driven risks goes bey ond simply restoring the business IT infrastructure, to keeping the business continuously operating and easing management of compliance with industry regulations. It calls for the provision of virtually anytime, anywhere accessibility to approved users. To protect against data-driven risks, the business solution will focus on a delivery of an efficient backup and quick retrieval of critical data and information. It requires an indexing method with efficient search capabilities. The data also needs to be managed continuously and kept safe from viruses, thefts and other forms of loss. To mitigate the Event-driven risks, the business must be able to distribute operations beyond the area of immediate impact. (IBM Global, June 2011). This implies business

Integration of marketing communications has been a hot topic for the Essay - 1

Integration of marketing communications has been a hot topic for the past 25 years - Essay Example ntrast to views of IMC as nothing other than an inconsequential fad whose popularity is predicated on media hype rather than on its realised, or potential, contribution to marketing communications. Focusing on this debate, this research will begin by defining IMC, following from which it will critically analyse both sides of the issue, ultimately arguing for the long-term value and importance of IMC. â€Å"Integrated communications are like a band. The different communications instruments - advertising, public relations, database marketing, media specialists, sponsorship, interactive, event marketing and the rest - are like different musical instruments: piano, trumpet, trombone, violin, clarinet, percussion and the rest† (Fletcher, 1998, p. 22). Other terms that have been used to describe IMC are â€Å"one-stop shopping,† â€Å"orchestration,† â€Å"seamless communication,† â€Å"whole egg,† and â€Å"the new advertising† (Duncan & Everett, 1993, p. 30). These terms signify the integration of specialized communications functions that previously have operated with various degrees of autonomy. Duncan and Everett argue that the basic concept of IMC is synergy, in which the individual efforts are mutually reinforcing with the resulting effect being greater than if each functional area had selected its own targets, chosen its own message strategy, and set its own media schedule and timing (Duncan & Everett, 1993). Proceeding from the stated, Duncan and Everett (1993) define IMC as â€Å"the strategic coordination of all messages and media used by an organisation to influence its perceived brand value† (p. 35). In comparison, Schultz, Tannenbaum, and Lauterborn (1993) define IMC as  "a new way of looking at the whole, where once we only saw parts such as advertising, public relations, sales promotion, purchasing, employee communications, and so forth. Its realigning communications to look at it the way the customer sees it - as a flow of information from