The Basics

A business continuity plan often requires setting an alternate recovery site. These sites help businesses resume critical functions as soon as possible in the event of a disaster. The key to quickly setting up an alternate site is sourcing necessary equipment. An organization could purchase backup equipment, store it in unused company space and transport it to the recovery site in the event of a business interruption. However the drawbacks to this approach are 1) the capital expense of buying new computer equipment and then storing it unused, and 2) as technologies and company need changes, the equipment could well be obsolete by the time it is needed. Generally, an enterprise will take this expensive step only with very specialized equipment. It is not practical to store a complete configuration of backup equipment. Technology quickship allows an organization to be flexible in its recovery and eliminates the cost and stress of an in-house solution.

Key Components

A quickship vendor should specify how quickly they can deliver equipment to your location. Your agreement will state the timeframes in which you can expect delivery of your backup hardware in the event of a disaster. Pronto can guarantee same or next business day delivery to ensure your organization gets back up and running as quickly as possible.

For business continuity purposes, it is not enough that a vendor can deliver equipment quickly. A vendor specializing in technology quickship needs to maintain an up-to-date configuration of your most recent equipment configuration. These configuration lists are important because at the time of disaster your staff will not have the time or the information needed to provide this info for the equipment needed in your recovery. In our contracts we specify configuration info and update frequency, ensuring you are always covered.

An agreement with a technology quickship vendor makes it possible for an organization to locate and prepare its own recovery space rather than utilizing costly vendor recovery sites. Technology quickship vendors typically charge an annual or monthly fee for the subscription of service and term is typically for 3 years. These incremental quickship fees cover the costs of storing and maintaining your inventory of equipment and ensure readiness to ship systems quickly on a round-the-clock basis.

Pronto Quickship

Technology quickship is a good augmentation to any business resiliency strategy and you should look to a vendor who can provide global capability with multiple depots to ensure quick recovery times. Pronto’s technology quickship will deliver the equipment you need to any recovery site the same or next business day after a declared disaster. Once a Pronto client declares a disaster our team springs into action to activate your recovery plan and fulfill your service agreement. We retrieve the required equipment from our depot inventory; configure it; pack it into shipping cases; and transport it to your specified safe location. The only thing harder than planning for an emergency is explaining why you didn’t.  Plan ahead with Pronto.