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Putting a robust disaster recovery strategy in place is a bit like going to the dentist. We all know it’s important, but not everyone’s good at doing it in practice.

High stakes

Some organisations – especially big firms or those in highly regulated industries – have exemplary disaster recovery set-ups.

At the other end of the scale, an alarming number of small and medium organisations have little or nothing in place, either not having ‘got around to it’ yet or simply hoping a crisis will never strike them – a high stakes gamble.

Many others have put some measures in place, but are operating under a false sense of security and are not nearly as well-protected as they believe.

I’ll look in subsequent blog posts at ways to create an effective disaster recovery (DR) strategy and what to look for in suitable DR facilities. But first, I’ll focus on the basic matter of why we need to have one at all.

Business continuity

Fundamentally, of course, it’s all about business continuity. You need to ensure that, if a crisis should strike, you can continue operating with as little interruption as possible.

Any significant disruption, even for a relatively short period, could well mean lost orders and therefore lost revenue and profits.

Depending on when it strikes, just a few hours’ downtime could mean your staff and suppliers don’t get paid or customers invoiced. It could cause internal chaos that takes you a while to bounce back from – even when the external crisis is over. This could affect staff morale and distract you from your core business at a critical time.

It could mean a blow to your reputation if you’ve let customers down – and the harsh reality is that reputations are far easier and quicker to damage than to repair.

And, if the disruption lasts a significant period or entails a loss of business-critical data, it could be devastating – even fatal – for your organisation.

While the exact statistics vary, there’s general agreement that most businesses will experience data loss at some point. And, in cases of major loss, a great many of these organisations aren’t in business two years later.

The good news

The good news is that a comprehensive DR strategy can protect you from all of this, whatever the nature of your organisation. While some upheaval in a time of crisis is probably inevitable, it should mean you can continue to operate with minimal impact on your customers, staff, processes and reputation.

So, given this, why don’t all organisations have a solid solution in place?

I think part of the answer, aside from blind optimism, is that many organisations don’t take proper account of the full range of risks that face them.

You might think of the most obvious disasters, such as a fire or terrorist bomb at your premises, and conclude that the risks – because, perhaps, of where you’re based or your fire protection systems – are slim.

But the reality is that disasters come in many shapes and sizes and are often far less predictable than this.

Hidden dangers

You could be hit by a fire in your local telephone exchange or a power outage which affects the whole area.

It could be a crisis that strikes another company in your building or based next door – but which equally affects you by closing off access to your premises. This could be anything from a fire to an explosion, a building collapse or protest action. You can take care over the safety of your own business, but you can do little to control the safety of other firms.

If you can’t access your premises and that’s where your IT systems are based, aside from a period of downtime, that could seriously affect your data. It maybe that no-one will be able to get in to back up on schedule. You may also find that, because your systems were suddenly interrupted, some of your data is corrupt when the power comes back on or you regain access, meaning significant work still to be done to restore normality – not to mention any data you’ve lost

It also might not a physical disaster at all but an act of data theft or IT sabotage by a disaffected member of staff, an intruder or a hacker. Just look at the huge damage a bunch of teenage hackers caused to Talk Talk’s business in 2015.

False security

The other reason I believe many organisations are not well enough protected is the false sense of security which comes from having a partial solution in place – typically some kind of cloud data back-up.

If you’ve chosen a cloud route, do you truly know exactly where and how your data is being stored? How well is it protected there? How easy will it be to retrieve in an emergency?

What level of support will your cloud provider give you in a time of crisis? Have you practised under realistic crisis conditions to stress-test the service and ensure you can get back up and running in a smooth, reliable process?

Too important

It may be that the disaster recovery solution you have in place is exactly what you need. But it might not. And with no less than your organisation’s survival at stake, it’s too important a matter to leave to chance.

In a later post, I’ll look at how to devise the most effective DR strategy for your organisation.

High street retailer Next is promoting employee car sharing at its Leicester sites as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to sustainable travel for employees.

As part of maintaining a competitive and thorough corporate social responsibility strategy, Next promotes all forms of sustainable travel to staff, including walking, cycling and sharing, as well as offering free charging points for electric and hybrid vehicles. In 2017, such promotion will be rolled out to stores and warehouses country-wide.

With 4,200 staff working shift patterns across a 24/7 period between Next’s Head Offices and it’s other Leicester sites, car sharing has become its most popular mode of sustainable travel. Between the members sharing, 3.5 million miles are taken off of the roads every year, and £900,000 saved in petrol costs. Next’s car sharers save 1,200 tonnes of CO2 annually – and this figure is growing all the time as more get involved.

Leading by example to promote their Liftshare scheme, Next uses emails, posters, and travel clinics to inform staff of the benefits of car sharing. In 2010, the company introduced a daily travel incentive voucher at the value of £1 a day. In 2015, the value was increased to £2, and during a period of office construction, temporarily to £5. Even when the rate was lowered after a short period back to £2, those car sharing continued to do so – proving that staff are truly engaged and understanding of the benefits of shared travel!

The company already has 381 teams of people regularly sharing cars to work – most with 3 or more people in the car, for optimum efficiency.

Sarah Mcalinden, Sustainable Travel Champion for Next, said “Continuous promotion of the Next Liftshare scheme has been extremely successful in recruiting new users, with membership growing by more than six times over since we started out! As a company based in a fairly rural area, not served overly by public transport options, it’s important that we offer as many options to staff as we can. Next remain committed to sturdy CSR targets and policies, and our Liftshare scheme forms just a small part of this – but with big results.”

If you’d like more information on introducing a Liftshare scheme for your business, or think personalised travel planning or car sharing could work for your organisation, get in touch with the Liftshare Business Team.

Luxembourg-based EBRC, a specialist in managing highly sensitive information, has chosen data centre operator MIGSOLV as its UK partner. The move provides EBRC’s clients with a broader choice of international facilities and a UK data centre presence to address the potential data transfer challenges of Brexit.

Located in the geographical heart of Europe, EBRC (European Business Reliance Centre) provides data centre, cybersecurity, cloud and managed services to 280 clients from 40 countries.

Describing itself as Europe’s ‘digital fortress’, EBRC operates five highly-secure, interconnected data centres in Luxembourg – three of them Tier IV-certified – providing 17,000 sqm of server space. It specialises in supporting organisations which are dependent on highly sensitive information, with particular strength in the finance, government and biotech sectors.

MIGSOLV provides IT colocation services from its ultra-secure Gatehouse facility in Norwich, England. It provides flexible rack space to public bodies and companies from small organisations to large enterprises. This is backed by an IT migration service to help clients move their systems to the Gatehouse plus comprehensive, round-the-clock support.

By selecting MIGSOLV as its UK partner, EBRC can now offer its clients a wider selection of data centres under a single contract – including a UK facility which some are seeking to address the uncertainties posed by Brexit. Similarly, MIGSOLV can now offer customers additional facilities on mainland Europe.

EBRC will also appoint a partner in other major European countries including Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.

Alexander Duwaerts, International Client Development Director at EBRC, explains: “Our partnership with MIGSOLV is a core part of our ambitious growth plans. We want to offer a wider portfolio of highly secure data centres in addition to our own in Luxembourg. And the UK is especially important with Brexit on the horizon as customers are concerned about the implications it may have for cross-border data transfer. Many want to secure a presence in a UK facility to protect their options and ensure they can continue trading with Britain without disruption when Brexit takes effect.”

Duwaerts continues: “Our link with MIGSOLV goes back many years as their team advised us on the initial development of our own data centres. With this long-standing relationship and the extremely high security of their Gatehouse data centre, they’re the right UK partner for us and our customers.”

David Manning, Managing Director of MIGSOLV, comments: “EBRC is one of Europe’s most highly-reputed data centre operators – particularly in the >Jean-francois.hugon@ebrc.com

T: +352 26 06 1

Tudor Lodge Consultants are glad to announce that we are working with Redstone Private Banking, a well-established and hugely experienced provider of global search and selection solutions. They specialise in the Private Banking and Wealth Management markets and have an impressive track record and network of clients, with many big names to boast as clients.

Redstone Private Banking, who have never previously used Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) either on-site or offsite initially approached us in September with a view to increasing their discoverability and visibility online, in an industry that has traditionally been somewhat hidden from public view. After an initial consultation to discover and detail what Redstone Private Banking needed we drew up a fully detailed plan spanning a number of months to get their online presence in check.

Beginning with thorough industry analysis, competitor research and research around industry keywords and search terms, we drew up a comprehensive content and SEO plan with the client. In addition we have worked and continue to work extensively on the crawling factors of the website. As the website was built a number of years ago and little updated, it has remained important that Google and other search engines can properly ‘crawl’ and index the website.

We have ensured that all site meta data, internal and external link structures and content is fully in line with SEO best practices. We are also continuing to ensure that the keywords and content used across the site not only helps further Redstone Private Banking’s offerings, but also serves to increase their rankings across all search engines.

With a previous lack of content we are working towards adding thoroughly informative and useful content to the site including landing pages, guides, information and content that will help further improve user journeys through the site. We are also continuously ensuring that the jobs listing pages on the site are user friendly and fully compliant with SEO best practices.

Furthermore, we are working to clean up the backlink profile of Redstone Private Banking to make sure that all ‘spammy’ links pointing towards the domain are disavowed for Google to only take clean links into account.

We look forward to further building upon our great progress with Redstone Private Banking and are excited to continue this budding relationship.

A Norse Commercial Services apprentice has won a top award in the College of West Anglia’s Apprenticeship Awards 2017. Abbie Tuddenham, currently working to complete her advanced IT apprenticeship and fulfilling a full-time role with the IT Application and Project Services team at Norse Commercial Services, came away with the prestigious IT Apprentice of the Year Award, the top accolade for the IT category.  More than 1200 apprentices across 800 companies were eligible to be nominated across 18 categories, highlighting the competition Abi faced in achieving her nomination and subsequent award. No newcomer to awards, Abbie was runner-up to the Apprentice of the Year at the Pride of Norse Awards 2015, and went on to deservedly receive the top Norse apprenticeship award, Norse Apprentice of the Year in 2016. Abbie has been with Norse since October 2014, having previously completed her studies in Animal Welfare at Easton & Otley College. Being unable to find a position in that field of study and having a keen interest in IT, Abbie applied for the IT apprentice vacancy with Norse where she sailed through her Intermediate Apprenticeship studies and was subsequently offered and accepted the role of IT Systems Administrator.  Denise Cunniam, Head of IT Application & Project Services, is full of praise for Abbie: “I am continually impressed with the way Abbie approaches her college portfolio work, and in considering how new skills learned can immediately be applied to workplace tasks, thinking about and then demonstrating ways of becoming more efficient in her job role.   “Abbie is always keen to learn and is eager to ask questions in order to further her development and understanding of how IT can and should be used to support the business.  Abbie is an important part of our IT team; her work ethic, desire to learn how to deal with ever more complex scenarios, greater workloads, and standard of work are exceptional. Since day-one Abbie has far exceeded the expectations I would have had of an apprentice.” In recognition of her performance and the high-regard in which she is held by colleagues and managers, Abbie has recently taken on new roles and responsibilities at Norse and this has given her the opportunity to develop even more skills and knowledge, demonstrating this in the high-quality of work produced for her college portfolio.

Colby Court Joins Hillington Square

Freebridge Community Housing were pleased to welcome David Orr, the Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation to Hillington Square last week, to celebrate the finish of the third phase of the regeneration project, namely Colby Court.

The completion of Colby Court is the latest milestone in the regeneration project, following the completion of Millfleet Court and Valentine Place, and sees work on 158 of the original 320 homes now completed.

Mr Orr was given the opportunity to take a look the work happening at Hillington Square, and took time out to meet some of the tenants who had recently moved into their new homes in Colby Court. He was also shown the work that has just begun on Phase 4 of the project, which should see a further 44 homes finished in early 2018.

Freebridge Chief Executive, Tony Hall, said: “As an organisation we are tremendously proud of the work that we have completed at Hillington Square and the positive effect that the regeneration has had on the communities in and around the area.

“Today was a great opportunity for us to share that work with David, but also a chance to show him the plans that we continue to push forward with for the final phases of the project.”

David Orr, Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation said: “I always enjoy seeing the things that Housing Associations do that make the places where people live better. “Regeneration is about taking places like Hillington Square, where people were thrilled to live when they were first built, and making changes so that people are thrilled to live here once again.

“Seeing the work that Freebridge have done demonstrates the kind of difference that organisations that know and understand their communities can really make.

“Freebridge should be proud of what they’ve achieved.”

Wymondham-based mechanical engineering contractor Pruce Newman was recently awarded three new accreditations by leading compliance organisation DNV-GL to reflect the high standards of Quality, Safety and Environmental management within the business.

Pruce Newman, who specialise in industrial pipework fabrication and installation across the South and East of England, have been awarded certification to the following standards:

• ISO 9001:2015 – for Quality Management Systems
• ISO 14001:2015 – for Environmental Management Systems
• OHSAS  18001 – for Health and Safety Management Systems

The standards for Quality and Environmental Management have recently been updated, with a much greater emphasis on how companies are able to meet customer expectations, how they demonstrate engagement at all levels of the business, and a focus on risk-based thinking which enables improvements in efficiency.

Although many companies in the engineering construction industry hold accreditation to these ISO standards, current certification to the 2008 standards is only valid until September 2018, meaning that all businesses who want to maintain their accreditation will need to be able to prove that they can meet the stringent demands of the new assessment processes before this date. Pruce Newman are delighted that they have been able to achieve this ahead of time, with support from the entire team. The differences between the old and new standards have an impact across all parts of an organisation, and everyone at Pruce Newman had their part to play in enabling the business to achieve the new accreditation standards – as Tim Moorse, Pruce Newman’s Operations Director, commented:

“The changes in the 2015 standards required us to remodel certain sections of our procedures. This was achieved with a lot of excellent work by Keith Dixon, our Compliance Manager, and involved all areas of our business in their application to the changes. The commitment shown by everyone at Pruce Newman is ongoing as we seek to continually improve, and ‘live the standards’ to help us do this.”

The concept of “living the standards” is central to the new accreditation process, and this approach compliments Pruce Newman’s core values of Quality, Safety and Trust. As a second-generation family business, Pruce Newman has always worked hard to deliver outstanding projects with high levels of integrity, and the company has embraced a culture of continuous improvement which enables it to consistently develop its capabilities and its people to exceed customer demand. Even so, the business still faced challenges in meeting the new accreditation standards, and the selection of the right accreditation partner was central to ensuring Pruce Newman’s achievement.

Pruce Newman considered a number of potential partners before appointing DNV-GL at the culmination of a robust selection process, choosing to work with the UKAS-accredited provider due to their strong account planning, flexibility and support systems, which gave Pruce Newman confidence in the assessment process, and in their preparation for the transition to the new standards.

The updated certification was presented to Keith Dixon by Mark Clewley, DNV-GL Regional Business Development Manager, who said:

“Pruce Newman came to us wanting to work with an industry leader with UKAS accreditation. Through our partnership approach and Pruce Newman’s hard work, they have made great improvements through the process. By achieving certification to ISO 9001: 2015, ISO 14001: 2015 and OHSAS 18001 they are demonstrating their commitment to Quality, Environmental and Health and Safety”.

Pruce Newman’s hard work started well before they were audited to the new standards. Preparation to meet the 2015 standards for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 took four months to complete, starting with a review of the policy documents that demonstrated how Pruce Newman’s business functions met the requirements for each of the standards.  The company already had well-documented procedures for quality, environmental and health and safety management, however it was still necessary to revise a number of these, ensuring a demonstrable focus on the practical application of the procedures, and showing how those procedures provided a tangible benefit to the business or the customer.

This process also provided Pruce Newman with a good opportunity to revisit how appropriate its policies and procedures were, keeping only those which were relevant to the way in which the business currently operates; reflecting changes to the marketplace, improvements in capability, and continual evolutions in technology. What results is a concise set of policies which clearly define how Pruce Newman conducts its business, and which everyone in the business is able to buy in to.

The audit itself was conducted over an intensive 8 days, and required three DNV-GL auditors who conducted in-depth interviews at all levels of the business, thoroughly reviewed Pruce Newman’s documentation, visited Pruce Newman’s head office, workshops and client sites to ensure a true picture of the business, and who were pleased to recommend Pruce Newman for approval to all three standards at the end of the audit process.

This recognition of Pruce Newman’s business capabilities was cause for celebration, and Graham Newman, Pruce Newman’s Managing Director, was naturally pleased with the outcome:

“The gaining of the latest ISO 9001 and ISO14001 2015 certification, plus renewal of our OHSAS 18001:2007 certification with the assistance of DNV, has confirmed Pruce Newman’s commitment to driving the business’ Quality, Health and Safety and Environmental performances on to the next level.

The complete review of our systems and policies which was required by our upgrade to the very latest standards has confirmed that we are indeed able to meet the requirements of our customers in high quality, high safety and high service level markets such as the Power Generation, Oil & Gas, Chemical and Pharmaceutical industries, and provides our existing clients in other sectors with reassurance of our ability to continue to meet their needs in markets which are increasingly driven by compliance and regulation.”

As already mentioned, Pruce Newman is a company with a strong culture of continuous improvement and so the journey doesn’t stop with this triple accreditation. Even though he has just taken Pruce Newman through this challenging but rewarding process, Compliance Manager Keith Dixon is focussed on ensuring that the business leads the way as new standards come into force, and said:

“I’m delighted that we have achieved updated UKAS accredited certification for our management systems:  ISO 9001:2015 for Quality, ISO 14001:2015 for Environmental and OHSAS 18001: 2007 for Occupational Health and Safety.  Having been through the process to meet the requirements of the latest versions of the standards for Quality and Environmental, Pruce Newman are in an excellent position to meet the requirements of the latest health and safety standard, ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety when it is published later in the year.”

To find our more about Pruce Newman and the services they offer, visit www.prucenewman.co.uk

The Board of Adapt Commercial Ltd is seeking to appoint a new member or members to ensure we have the capacity and skills to oversee the future growth of the commercial services delivered through the Adapt Group.  

Individuals are sought with experience in corporate hospitality, tenancy and customer experience management in addition to strong business acumen. Board member position are for a period of two years (term may be renewed).  After an initial period, it is expected that Board members will be appointed as a statutory (non-executive) director and would be expected to comply with all relevant duties of a company director.

Full information about the role here.

The Board supports the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in developing and delivering high quality commercial services and helping to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Group. 

Adapt manages and delivers its commercial services from The Enterprise Centre, a multi-award winning building and the region’s green business hub, where a thriving business community works alongside academia.  We manage a range of facilities within the building, providing inspirational workspace and innovative and creative locations for meetings, events and exhibitions and this activity is managed through a wholly UEA owned subsidiary company, Adapt Commercial Ltd.

How to apply Please submit a CV and a covering letter by Friday 31 March 2017, stating why you wish to be considered for the role and your daily rate, to adapt.pa@uea.ac.uk.  Your covering letter should show how you meet the relevant requirements in the person specification above.   For confidential informal discussions about this opportunity please contact Prof John French via adapt.pa@uea.ac.uk, tel 01603 597183. Prospective board members who best meet our requirements will be invited to meet with the existing members and delivery team.

Liftshare, the UK’s largest car sharing community, has been shortlisted in the category of ‘Outstanding Eco Small/Medium Business’ in the first Norwich & Norfolk Eco Awards.

The awards aim to celebrate projects and schemes with a strong ecological or environmentally-friendly ethos, as well as groups and organisations which can show they adopt a sound eco approach to all of their business.

Liftshare is the UK’s largest car sharing community, with over 500,000 members currently offering or requesting a lift. The site is free to use; and a sustainable and cheap travel option for most. Liftshare’s system calculates a journey price within legal limits for petrol contributions, so that car insurance remains unaffected.

The company maintains a free-to-use site for the public, as well as a corporate bespoke service that it sells to clients such as large employers, hospitals, business parks, and local authorities. Members using Liftshare on client sites alone save 35,000 tonnes of CO2 annually at current usage levels, and take over 97,000,000 miles off of the roads every year!

Based in Duke Street, Norwich, the sharing economy business has previously received accolades such as The Queens Award for Innovation, The Ashden Award for Sustainable Travel, and a Digital Impact Award.

Liftshare’s Founder and MD, Ali Clabburn, said of the shortlist: “Liftsharing is a win for the planet, a win for your savings and a win for community. I’m delighted to have been shortlisted and hope it encourages even more people in Norfolk to give it a try.”

The awards ceremony takes place on 16th March, at the Forum in Norwich.

A message from the North East Norfolk Futures Event Team Working in partnership with Beacon East, North Norfolk District Council and Paston Sixth Form College, the North East Norfolk Futures Event is designed to inspire, motivate and help guide students to reach their future career goals.

Over the last few years the event has grown considerably, with over 30 universities and 50+ employers attending last year.

This year, in addition to the provider stalls we have also introduced the ‘Career Guidance Centre’; where students can gain one-to-one career guidance from a variety of independence careers advisors, and also visit a series of guest speaker talks covering a variety of career paths. if you would like to find out more about the event, please contact Paston Sixth Form College via findoutmore@paston.ac.uk

Frank Dale Foods Limited based in Bunwell, South Norfolk passed into liquidation on Tuesday 28 February 2017 bringing to an end over 20 years of trading.  Andrew McTear of Norwich based business rescue and insolvency specialists was appointed liquidator.  In the run up to liquidation McTear Williams & Wood advertised the business and assets for sale as a going concern.   Liquidator Andrew McTear commented “there was keen interest, we sent out 31 sales packs and six interested parties visited site.  One offer stood above the others and I am delighted we were able to conclude a sale of the business and assets on 1 March 2017 to Finedale Foods Limited that should secure future employment for most of the 57 strong work force.   “This will result in a significant dividend to creditors so we see this as a win win outcome.” Edward Miles, owner and CEO of the newly formed Finedale Foods Limited said “I looked to invest and manage the company prior to the liquidation but the depth of the company’s financial crisis made that impossible.  Buying the business and assets out of liquidation made sense and I am delighted to be the successful bidder with support from Angel Investors, the LEP and the local Council who all worked quickly to support the bid”. “It is early days but we have already restarted production and opening new accounts with customers and suppliers. The team on site are working extremely hard to satisfy a backlog of customer orders and we will continue to build the Frank Dale brand.”

Human Capital Department were delighted to be awarded the Kings Lynn Major’s Award for innovation on 3rd March 2017, held at the Corn Exchange.

The judges recognised the company have innovated in providing tailored HR solutions, and in Maketing of the business.

Peter Lawrence from Human Capital Department said:

We are interested in building relationships with Chamber Members and other businesses, and providing HR Support either on a retained basis or for what I call HR Projects. 

To get in touch Phone

01553 609968 

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