The latest BriefingsDirect case study discussion focuses on how business standards and compliance services provider SAI Global is benefiting from a strategic view of IT enabled disaster recovery (DR).
Learn? here how SAI Global has brought advanced backup and DR best practices??? into play for its users and customers. Examine too how this?? has not? only provided business continuity assurance, but it has also?? provided? beneficial data lifecycle management and virtualization efficiency improvement.
Mark? Iveli, IT System Engineer at SAI Global, based in Sydney,?? Australia,? details on how standardizing DR has helped improve many?? aspects of SAI? Global?s business reliability. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions. [Disclosure: VMware is a sponsor of BriefingsDirect podcasts.]
Iveli: When?? we started to get into DR, we handled it from an IT point of? view and?? it was very much like an iceberg. We looked at the technology? and said,?? "This is what we need from a technology point of view." As? we started? to? get further into the journey, we realized that there was so much? more? that we were overlooking.
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We? were working with the? businesses to? go through what they had, what? they didn?t have, what we? needed from? them to make sure that we could? deliver what they needed.? Then we? started to realize it was a bigger? project.
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The initiative for DR started about 18 months? ago with our board, and it was a directive to improve the way we had? been doing things. That meant a complete review of our processes and? documentation.
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We had a number of business units that? all had different strategies for their disaster recovery, and different? timings and mechanisms to report on it.
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Through the use of VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) in the DR project, we've been able to centralize all of the DR??? processes, provide consistent reporting, and be able to schedule these??? business units to do all of their testing in parallel with each other.
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So??? we can make a DR session, so to speak, within the business and just?? run? through the process for them and give them their reports at the end?? of? it.
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We've installed SRM 4.1 and our installation was handled by an outsource company, VCPro. They were engaged with us to do the installation and help us get the design right from a technical point of view.
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Trying? to make it a daily? operational activity? is where the biggest challenge? is, because the? implementation was done? in a project methodology.? Handing it across to? the operational teams to? make it a daily operation,? or a daily task,? is where we're seeing some? challenges.
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I'm a systems engineer with SAI Global, and I've been with the company for three years. When??? the DR project started to gather some momentum, I asked to be a??? significant part of the project. I got the nod and was seconded to the??? DR project team because of my knowledge of VMware.
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That?s?? what my role is now -- keeping? the SRM environment tuned and in line?? with what the business needs.? That?s where we're at with SRM.
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Complete review
The? first 12? months? of this journey so far has been all around cleaning? up, getting? our? documentation up to spec, making sure that every? business unit?? understood and was able to articulate their environments? well. Then, we?? brought all that together so that we could say what?s? the technology?? that?s going to encapsulate all of these processes and documentation to?? deliver what the business needs, which is our recovery point objective (RPO) and for our recovery time objective (RTO).
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SAI Global is an umbrella company. We have three to four main areas of? interest. The first one, which we're probably most well-known for, is? our Five Ticks brand, and that?s the ASIS standards. The publication, the collection, the customization to your??? business is all done through our publishing section of the business.
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That??? then flows into an assurance side of the business, which goes out and??? does auditing, training, and certification against the standards that?? we? sell.
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We continue to buy new companies, and part? of the?? acquisition trail that we have been on has been to buy some? compliance?? businesses. That?s where we provide governance risk and? compliance?? services through the use of Board Manager, GRC Manager, Cintellate, and in the U.S., Integrity 360.
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Finally,??? last year, we acquired a company that deals solely in property??? settlement, and they're quite a significant section of the business that??? deals a lot with banks and convincing firms in handling property??? settlements.
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So we're a little bit diverse. All three of those business sections have their own IT requirements.
Gardner: Like many businesses, your brand is super important. The?? trust? associated with your performance is something you will take?? seriously.? So DR, backup and recovery, business continuity, are top-line issues for you.
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Is?? there anything about what you've been doing as a company that you? think? makes DR specifically important for you?
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Iveli: From SAI Global?s point of view, because of what we do, especially??? around the property settlement and interactions with the banks, DR is??? critical for us.
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Our publishing business feels that? their website?? needs to be available five nines. When we showed them? what DR is?? capable of doing, they really jumped on board and supported? it. They put?? DR as high importance for them.
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As far? as businesses go,?? everyone needs to be planning for this. I read an? article recently where?? something like 85 percent of businesses in the? Asia-Pacific region?? don?t have a proper DR strategy in place. With the? events that have?? happened here in Australia recently with the floods, and when you look? at the New Zealand earthquakes and that sort of stuff, you wonder where? the businesses are putting? DR? and how much importance they've got on it.? It?s probably only going? to? take a significant event before they change? their minds.
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Gardner: I was intrigued, Mark, when? you said what DR is capable of? doing. Do? you feel that there is a? misperception, perhaps an? under-appreciation? of what DR is?
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Process in place
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Iveli: The larger DR whole was just that these business units had a process? in?? place, but it was an older process and a lot of the process was? designed?? around a physical environment.
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With SAI? Global being almost 100?? percent virtual, moving them into a virtual? space opened their minds? up? to what was possible. So when we can sit? down with the business? units? and say, "We're going to do this DR? test," they ask if it will? impact? production. No, it won?t. How is it? happening? "Well, we are? going to do? this, this, and this in the? background. And you will? actually have? access to your application the? way it is today, it?s just? going to be? isolated and fenced off."
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They? say, "This is what? we've been? waiting for." We can actually do this? sort of stuff. They're? starting to? see and ask, "Can we use this to? test the next version of? the? applications and can we test this to kind? of map out our upgrade? path?"
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We're? starting to move? now into a slightly different? world, but it has been? the catalyst of? DR that?s enabled them to start? thinking in these new? ways, which they? weren?t able to do before.
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Gardner: So? being able to completely switch over and recover with very little??? interruption in terms of the testing, with very little downtime or? loss,?? the opportunity then is to say, "What else can we do with this??? capability?"
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Iveli: Absolutely. With this new?? process, we've taken the approach of baby? steps, and we're just looking?? to get some operational maturity into? the environment first, before we?? start to push the boundaries and do? things like disaster avoidance.
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Having?? the ability to? just bring these environments across in a state that?s?? identical to? production is eye-opening for them. Where the business?? wants to take? it is the next challenge, and that?s probably how do we?? take our DR? plan to version 2.0.
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We need to start to work with??? the likes of VMware and ask what our options are now. We have this in??? place, people are liking it, but they want to take it into a more highly??? available solution. What do we do next? Use vCloud Director? Do we need to get our sites in an active/active pairing?
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However,??? whatever the next technology step is for us, that?s where the? business?? are now starting to think ahead. That?s nice from an? alignment point? of? view.
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Gardner: Those DR? maturation approaches? put you in a position to further? leverage? virtualization. Is there sort? of a virtuous adoption pattern,? when you? combine modern DR with? widespread virtualization?
Iveli: Because all of a sudden, your machines are just a file on a data? store?? somewhere, now you can move these things around. As the physical??? technologies continue to advance -- the speed of our networks, the? speed?? of the storage environments, metro clustering, long haul? replication? --? these technologies are allowing businesses to think? outside of the? box? and look at ways in which they can provide faster? recovery, higher?? availability, more elastic environments.
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You're? not pinned down?? to just one data center in Sydney. You could have a? data center in?? Sydney and a data center in New Zealand, for instance,? and we can keep?? both of those sites online and in sync. That?s couple? of years down the?? track for our business, but that?s a possibility? somehow through the? use? of more virtualization technology.
Gardner: Any advice for? those listening in who are beginning their journey?? For? those folks? that are recognizing the risks and seeing these larger?? benefits, these? more strategic benefits, how would you encourage them?? to begin their? journey, what advice might you offer?
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Iveli: The advice? would be to get hired guns in. With DR, you're not going? to? be able to? do everything yourself. So spend a little bit more money?? and make sure? that you get some consultants in like VCPro. Without?? these guys, we? probably would have struggled a little bit just making?? sure that our? design was right. These guys ensured that we had best?? practice in our? designs.
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Before you get into DR, do? your? homework. Make sure that? your production environment is pristine.? Clean? it up. Make sure that? you don?t have anything in there that?s? wasting? your resources.
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Come? around with a strong? business case for DR.? Make sure that you've got? everybody on board and? you have the support? of the business.
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When you get into DR, make sure? that you secure?? dedicated resources for it. Don't just rely on people? coming in and out?? of the project. Make sure that you can lead people? to the resource and?? you make sure that they are fully engaged in the? design aspects and the?? implementation aspects.
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And as? you progress with DR,? incorporate? it as early as you can into your? everyday IT operation.? We're seeing? that, because we held it back from? our operations, just? handing it over? and having them manage the? hardware and the ESX and the logical layers, the environment, they were struggling just to??? get their head around it and what was what, where should this go,? where?? should that go.
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And once it?s in place,? celebrate. It can be a?? long haul. It can be quite a trying time. So? when you finally get it?? done, make sure that you celebrate it.
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Gardner: And perhaps a higher degree of peace of mind that goes with that.
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Iveli: Well, you'll find out when you get through it, how much easier this? is?? making your life, how much better you can sleep at night.
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