One way to avoid disasters is to not create them

As IT support people, we are regularly responding to issues created by various types of disasters.  We have pretty much seen everything.  Fires, tornados, floods, roof collapses, loss of key employees have all been thrown at various Clients over the years.  We spend a good amount of time with our Clients planning for these types of disasters.  Disaster plans are developed and tested as much as possible.  Most of the disasters listed here are not under our control.  We can’t control the weather.  But we can plan for these things, so if they do happen to our business we can minimize their effects.

There is a whole set of other types of disasters that are controllable.  Not implementing proper security procedures, not replacing critical old equipment, using the server room as a storage area,  not installing UPSs on critical equipment, and other “controllable disasters” should never happen.  We often hear “we simply can’t have any down time”.  At the same time, the cleaning people use the server room to store their cleaning supplies, or the server room is 100 degrees, and the server in that server room is 10 going on 11 years old.  My question is if you can’t have any down time, why are you asking for it?

In fact, thinking over the last 28 years that we have been supporting Clients, my guess is that about 75% of the “disasters” that have been encountered were self inflicted. These self inflicted disasters cost time and money.  Usually a lot more than the preventative measures that could have been taken to avoid them.  So take a look at your IT environment.  What disasters are you inviting in?

Ray Promoted To Service Manager

As everyone already knows, Ray has been doing an excellent job for us since he came onboard a few years back.  His attention to our Client’s needs has made us a better company.  It’s as simple as that.  He has helped us organize our growing helpdesk and has kicked all our butts regarding documentation.  He has proven himself in working with our Clients and with our staff. 

As my plate has been overflowing, it has come time for me to concentrate on our business processes and growth.  With that in mind, I have promoted Ray to Service Manager.  He is now responsible for all aspects of our providing the best support we can to our Clients.  In actuality Ray has already been doing this for a while now.  We are just making it official.  One of his first tasks has been to get our service scheduling process more formalized.  As many of you already have noticed, we have been much more proactive at communicating with you regarding the status and scheduling of your service tickets.  The response for the few changes he has made so far has been great.  Look for more!

As a reminder, the best ways to request support are:

• Phone – Call our 800 number – Select 1 for support
• Email – Send an email to support@ – A ticket is created and you are notified
• Client Portal – Sign into our Client Portal – Create tickets, check on ticket status, check your inventory, licenses, invoices, etc
• Fax – Yes, we still get support request though fax

Please do not send new support requests to any of us individually via email or voicemail.  Use the support accounts as they are handled immediately whereas an individual email or voicemail will have to wait until the individual gets a chance to receive it.  With illness, vacations, training, meetings, etc., that can take longer than we would like.  As much as possible keep all correspondence regarding a ticket attached to the ticket.  That simply means reply to the ticket emails that come from the system or add “ticket#XXXXXX/” (XXXXXX=the actual ticket number) to the Subject line of any email to attach that email to the ticket.  (Do not include the quotes)

We are constantly striving to provide the best support possible for you, our Clients.  As Service Manager, Ray will be a great force in meeting that goal.

And me?  Well, I have a bunch of things up my sleeve that I will now get time to get started or completed.  You will hear about several of them very soon.

Great Night at The Rock Cats

 

Tuesday, June 7th was Technology Night at New Britain Stadium where the New Britain Rock Cats play.  The Rock Cats are the farm team for the Minnesota Twins.  They defeated the Akron Aeros, the Cleveland Indians farm team.

As a sponsor of the evening, we had several Clients and staff in attendance.  Although the near 90 degree weather was a little tough, everyone had a fun evening.

 

It was great seeing everyone and we look forward to sponsoring again next year.

Nothing like a fire to dust of your disaster plan

As everyone is probably aware, I was awakened last Saturday morning at 3am by our alarm monitoring company telling me our fire alarm at the office had gone off. On my way to the office I imagined everything from a false alarm to the smoldering ashes of a total loss. Not a good feeling. I arrived to find 4 fire trucks and a bunch of firefighters running around our office building. The bad feeling got worse. After speaking to one of the firemen, I found out that the office directly behind ours was where the fire occurred. The fire was out but the office was destroyed.

Due to our newly installed alarm system (installed in December) and the great response from the Torrington Fire Department, our office was spared any fire damage although we are still fighting the smoke smell.

Even though we were spared any real damage, this episode caused me to kick in various pieces of our disaster plan. The process highlighted several issues that I thought I would share.

First, it's the little things that will get you. Of course we have various business insurances. But the contact info is (or was) in the office. In this case, once I was able to get into the office I could locate the info. I have now created a Microsoft OneNote notebook and store a synced copy of it in the "Cloud" on a SkyDrive account. This notebook is our complete disaster plan. Everything from contact info to specific procedures is in this notebook. Of course it is a constant work in process, but by having it synced to the "Cloud", I have access to it from any computer that has Internet access. This includes my home computer, my various tablets (don't ask - of course I need 3 tablets) and even my cell phone. The fact that the notebook is synced on several of these devices means I have access to the most recent version of the plan even if I don't have Internet access.

Next, disasters come in many forms. Our office was spared in this case. However, I did not have access until the Fire Marshall said I could go in. If the fire was of suspecious origin, which might have required ongoing investigation, I might not have had access to our office for an extended period of time, a disaster in itself. By having a list of our critical functions I am able to determine which of those functions have to be put in disaster mode. For instance, our service ticketing software is hosted. So, other then letting everyone know that they need to access it from home, I would not have to worry about this critical function.

So our little "disaster" turned out to be just that, little. But, I am more confident about our ability to react to a more serious disaster from the lessons learned. What else is in our Disaster Plan Notebook? You'll have to keep your eyes here on our blog. I will post more information soon.

HIPAA/HiTech Compliance Seminar

SSGI will be presenting a HIPAA/HiTech Compliance Seminar at the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, April 27th from 8:30am to 10:00am. The seminar will help healthcare providers understand the changes in the HIPAA rules that the HiTech Act has introduced.

During the seminar SSGI will announce a partnership with eGestalt to provide web based HIPAA compliance assessements. These assessments will help healthcare providers determine their current compliance status and help them become and stay compliant.

For more information conact the Chamber of Commerce office at 860-496-8684 or SSGI at 800-897-7002.