Ideas in Motion: Kevin Archer: Smart Shelter is “Smart” Choice for Disaster Recovery
By Scott H. Cytron, ABC
Did you know the 2006 hurricane season begins June 1? It seems only a short time ago that the Gulf Coast was devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Already, in 2006, many parts of the country have been hit by tornados and life-threatening storms.
If your firm or business were hit by a natural or man-made disaster, would it survive? At the very least, businesses should maintain a business continuation plan that is updated and tested on a regular basis. Sounds good, but what about your physical surroundings? How quickly can you get up and running should a disaster occur?
Meet Kevin A. Archer, chief technology officer and vice president of the Information Technology Consulting Practice for MSApple Technologies, an affiliate company of Moore Stephens Apple in Akron, Ohio. The firm is an independent member firm of Moore Stephens International, Limited, and offers network security consulting nationwide through Moore Stephens North America (MSNA).
I recently sat down with Kevin to learn more about MSApple Technologies, as well as a new service he is spearheading with AST called “Smart Shelter.” | |
Kevin Archer
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Scott Cytron: Describe what you do for MSApple.
Kevin Archer: MSApple Technologies is an affiliate, so I have a dual role in leading the technology niche for the accounting and business advisory firm that offers technology services to accounting clients, and leading the affiliate company that serves a broader base of IT customers. A third role is protecting and developing the internal technology assets of both MSApple companies.
SC: What did you do prior to Apple?
KA: I was the business director for a Microsoft Business Solutions Partner in the Southeast Region of the United States.
SC: What are some of the most in-demand services you offer, and what do clients want most out of these services?
KA: Mostly, they are looking for ERP sales, consulting and implementation, technology infrastructure design, and technical support services. Clients want to know that they are making sound technology decisions and that they have a reliable, economic, technology partner.
SC: Concentrating on Smart Shelter, what motivated you to come up with this for the firm?
KA: MSApple was the victim of disaster twice. First, a tenant in our building had a fire in its office suite that destroyed the computer systems on the entire third floor. As a result, we lost PCs, cabling and local files to smoke damage; while the fire was contained in the affected suite, the smoke traveled through the HVAC system to all offices on the third floor.
A few years later, a water pipe from an external air conditioning unit that fed into the building burst in late December. The finance department on the ground floor of the building was flooded, and again, this affected our files and computer equipment. We got to thinking, what if fire or water hit our server room? Could we survive losing this equipment for a significant period of time, right at busy season?
We run over 90 software applications, many of which are vital during tax season. We couldn’t possibly handle our regular volume of work without an IT system in place for what we estimated to be about 13 weeks. Out of fear, we decided we couldn’t wait for disaster number three! The firm charged me with finding a solution to protect our data center against anything.
SC: How you came about choosing AST as the provider – did you shop around? Did you think about creating this on your own, or were the costs just too great?
KA: There are so many things that are needed in the system: fire detection and suppression, thermal protection, water and condensation control, and physical security. Beyond the cost issue of attaining all this, the logistics of bringing everything together and engineering the protection center was beyond our expertise. So after several frustrating weeks of trying to piece meal the solution together, I decided to focus my search on finding a provider that could supply a turnkey solution. We found it in Spain, with AST.
SC: What is Smart Shelter? Describe it for me, as well as “Smart Bunker.”
KA: The Smart Shelter is a room that encases the data center (servers, systems, etc). and provides protection from water, fire, RMI and EMI, gas, dust, physical damage, human sabotage, and power interruption. The room is humidity- and thermal-controlled to maintain a constant physical environment to protect the contents. There are no size limitations. It is constructed to meet the current size of the data center. And, since it’s built from pre-engineered components, it can be relocated or expanded to meet the changing needs of the data center.
It’s really a unique solution. Companies all over the world have implemented this, with installations ranging from 80 to 200,000 sq ft. Our data center is about 2,000 sq ft. Conversely, the Smart Bunker is a “data center on wheels” for smaller businesses that need an economic, extremely portable solution.
SC: How does the ROI work on something like this? What is the cost/benefit to making a case as to why a firm or company cannot afford to do without something like this.
KA: A company can always carry insurance against loss of equipment. What was really the key for us was the business interruption, and subsequent loss of business incurred when clients leave and don’t come back. When I calculated the time to rebuild our data center – ordering and receiving equipment, recabling, installing and testing applications, and restoring and testing data, I was in the realm of 11 to 13 weeks to complete the task. During that time, we cannot operate at anywhere near capacity from remote PCs. You have lost revenue during that time – and beyond. And, just because we’re up and running in 13 weeks doesn’t mean that our clients waited for us. During tax season, they CAN’T wait.
It’s possible to calculate the cost of risk prevention by looking at probabilities of fire, flood and vandalism, along with the cost of asset replacement, productivity losses, data losses and business losses. We can conduct this risk analysis for any company looking at a Smart Shelter to justify the investment.
SC: I know you’re thinking about productizing this for other firms in the Moore Stephens North America network, and possibly firms outside the network. How do you go about rolling this out?
KA: We have partnered with AST, and will use MSNA and Microsoft Partner channels to market the products. By sharing our own experiences, we hope to prevent potential losses for our MSNA partners, and offer them the opportunity to share the solution with their own clients.
About Author:
Scott H. Cytron, ABC, is an accredited communications and public relations consultant working in the accounting, health care, high-tech and finance industries. He also teaches efficient and effective writing to professional services’ groups and can be reached at scott@cytronandcompany.com or through his Web site, http://www.cytronandcompany.com.
About Column:
Ideas in Motion is a monthly column designed to focus on best practices within CPA firms and organizations involved in providing technology related services.
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