Telecom Expense Management Blog

After the horrific firestorm this week many companies, including us at Vocio, are reviewing their Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) plans. For a look at how some San Diego businesses dealt with the fires check out this article from eWeek.

Also if you're looking for ways to provide BCDR for your enterprise voice services check out the presentation here.

After reading the eWeek article I thought our clients might have a few questions. Such as what type of BCDR plan does Vocio have to ensure access to the V-Vision TEM platform and what benefit, if any, would the V-Vision TEM platform be to your enterprise in the time of a crisis.

As the V-Vision TEM platform is a repository for your telecom services and inventory it could be useful for:

• Storing a PDF copy of your Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan which would allow anyone on the BCDR team with web access to immediately view, print or download the document.
• Since we track all wireless inventory in real time you would have access to all of the wireless numbers assigned to your employees allowing you to call or text message them. You could also store personal home or mobile phone numbers in the employee inventory.
• You have access to telecom and data inventory for all site locations along with the carriers and contact phone numbers. If you needed to Remote Call Forward (RCF) your main number or reroute Toll Free numbers to another location the information would be available, allowing for a quick response.
• V-Vision allows for e-mail notification and could upon request have a predetermined selection of notifications to send to all employees or the BCDR team depending upon the crisis.

What Makes Vocio V-Vision's TEM Platform Reliable?
The V-Vision TEM platform is delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS) and as such is available anywhere you have an Internet connection. Our data center is the same facility that handles millions of tax returns via TurboTax for the Web each year. To assure continued service, data integrity, and customer confidence, the data center is outfitted with:

• thoroughly tested intrusion detection software and hardware to stop unauthorized access attempts and other suspicious activity
• the most advanced firewall software available to prevent “spoofing”
• daily back-ups of all information stored within V-Vision to prevent data loss
• 24x7x365 security, including trained personnel, video surveillance, and alarms, to prevent physical breaches
• uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and multiple back-up generators in case of power outage smoke detection and fire suppression systems
• In case of natural disaster, we have a second and separate data center that redundantly protects and stores all customer information and assets.

We hope that our clients never have to go through the challenges we faced with the San Diego Firestorm but rest assured we've put a lot of thought and effort into our Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery so should you need our services they will be available.

The one bright spot during the firestorm here in San Diego was the Reverse 911 system that the County of San Diego and Sheriffs department had implemented in 2005 and which the City of San Diego had implemented weeks earlier. Those systems combined to put warning or evacuation calls out to 594,711 households during the wildfires, including one to our home. Many of the most important calls were made at 4am on Monday morning to Rancho Bernardo and Poway. I listened to many people being interviewed on the local news say that this system saved their families lives.

One limitation of the Reverse 911 system is the database only contains land line phone numbers. If you’re one of the many individuals today who have opted not to have a home phone line and instead use a mobile or VoIP phone you can register that phone number to your home address by using this City of San Diego form. 

The Reverse 911 system is also used in other areas of the country so if you don’t have a home phone line check with your local officials to determine if they use a Reverse 911 system and how to register your mobile or VoIP phone number to your home address. It just might save your life.