3 Strategies for Maintaining Business Continuity

300
Filed under - Archived Content,

Chris Key outlines three strategies for restoring data in your contact centre.

1. Nightly backups

With nightly database backups, in a few hours a database backup can be restored onto a new call centre system server and work can continue.

Our minimum recommendation for any business is a nightly backup to a remote server, with FTP transfer of call recordings nightly; this is the least costly option.

However, call recordings cannot be restored as quickly as the data due to the size of the files, so they would need to be re-added over the subsequent days from the backup source.

So this needs to be taken into consideration when planning, as even temporary data loss can delay core processes.

If the outage happens at the end of the day and the database is restored from the previous night’s backup, then potentially an entire day can be lost if you are relying solely on nightly database backups.

2. RAID arrays

Using RAID arrays to ensure that a faulty drive does not impact the system at all is a strong backup option, as more than one drive mirrors the same data. If one goes down, the other is there to take over.

However, there is a premium to be paid for a RAID system due to the increased cost for the hardware.

A RAID array and nightly backup to a remote database can offer increased protection against data loss, along with protection against additional drive failure.

To implement this the call centre system would require a main database server configured for RAID1 (the least resource-intensive of the RAID types). This would be in a cluster and with a slave database. The chances of a sustained outage and data loss can be considerably reduced.

3. Synchronising to a CRM system

Synchronising to a CRM system can reduce the impact of a call centre database failure. This can be set up to run automatically as a background task or can be done by the agents manually when a call record is “popped” to them.

This method works well if raw data is kept on the call centre server while human contact records are saved to the CRM system. This can enable you to have two sources of live data in case of any issues or unexpected data loss.

With CRM synchronisation, business continuity is maintained by being able to access the data on your CRM in the event of a server failure, and vice versa in the event of a CRM failure.

Choosing the right option for your organisation

It comes down to the size of your organisation and the risk you can afford to take, if any at all. For most organisations, nightly backups may make the most sense and should be fundamental to every business continuity plan.

The cost to implement and maintain RAID arrays might outweigh the cost of one day’s lost data, and the additional days backing-up call records should also be taken into account.

You also need to consider customer service levels. Retrieving lost information may be time-consuming, difficult or near enough impossible – can you afford to lose valuable data, even for an hour?

chris-key

Chris Key

If not, then a RAID array or CRM integration is the wise choice as it this enables you to have two live sources of data backed up on your server and within your CRM.

If you are still concerned about the cost of business continuity in the event of a server failure then a cloud contact centre might be the solution for you.

But remember that your cloud contact centre provider must have clear protocols and processes for data management and backups. Without visibility of this, your business continuity could still be impacted.

With thanks to Chris Key at Hostcomm

Author: Megan Jones

Published On: 25th Nov 2015 - Last modified: 18th Dec 2018
Read more about - Archived Content,

Follow Us on LinkedIn