Zebra Adds More Stripes!

Newcastle-based IT services firm, The Zebra Group has recently won a major contract to provide business continuity services to educational establishments in the region and is also now in advanced discussions to provide similar services to a national security business and legal company.

Brought on for its extensive expertise in the field of business continuity, The Zebra Group will advise on developing effective response plans ready to use in the event of incidents affecting each company’s ability to carry out consistent business activity.

 In light of the recent volcano disruption and heavy snowfall earlier this year, many businesses have experienced staffing problems and been unprepared for times when key employees are, all of a sudden, not available.   This has thrown the spotlight onto the importance of the human element of business continuity strategy and planning and the Zebra Group has seen a strong upsurge in interest.

 The latest  Chartered Management Institute (CMI) survey on Business Continuity Management entitled ‘Disruption & Resilience: the 2010 Business Continuity Management Survey’, highlighted a growing balance for business continuity to focus on technology and people, rather than the more significant weighting it had towards technology in previous years.  Zebra are now in a position to support businesses with both.

The Zebra team will work with the regions’ educational establishments to develop a bespoke programme of business continuity management outlining how to continue with an effective operation in the event of a disruption to normal working conditions such as extreme weather, a fire or a power cut.  It will also provide the framework and direction for a wider policy for business continuity management to be embedded into the existing operational strategy of the organisation.

In addition to advising on and developing the business continuity programme, The Zebra Group has also been contracted to work closely with senior educational personnel in sessions that will advise and inform key decision makers of various aspects of the business continuity programme.  These sessions will also emphasise the importance of embedding business continuity within wider operational strategy.

Catherine Ennis, account manager at The Zebra Group explains:  “Business continuity planning is often seen as a hypothetical exercise but managed effectively it can be a real asset to operations management.  We work with clients to develop comprehensive strategies that can be applied in a wide variety of scenarios from large scale disasters to smaller, more likely incidents such as systems failure.  This integrated approach not only offers significant savings over time but also makes business continuity planning more prominent in an organisation’s day-to-day thought process, ensuring regular testing, improvements and ultimately a more robust system.”

The Zebra Group has been offering business continuity planning and consultancy services through its aptly named WorkPlace Recovery service since 2005 with its specialist team working with numerous clients in the North East and beyond. In addition to its expertise in this area, The Zebra Group offers full-service IT solutions to the business community incorporating infrastructure support, web design and hosting and a comprehensive consultancy service.

To learn more about ZebraHosts Business Continuity Consultancy Service visit www.workplacerecovery.co.uk or call 0191 261 7555.