THE IMPORTANCE OF BACK-UPS AND DISASTER RECOVERY PLANS FOR ALARM MONITORING CONTROL ROOMS

Questions:

What happens if your server / main PC / front end processor crashes?
What happens if your client database gets corrupted?
What happens if your system is damaged by viruses or ransom-ware?
What happens if your control room is compromised by sabotage?

The REAL questions are NOT what happens if, BUT RATHER, what happens when…..!

The disaster scenario (whatever the level of severity) is a time aged pariah for most;
Well, we’ve sort of got a plan but it’s not in place yet….
Nah, not worried, we’ll deal with it if and when….
Can’t afford it now but we’ll put it in place later….
Ja, we’ll get to it sometime….
Everything’s easily available – we’ll be back up quickly….

Of course, these things never get done, and come that time, everything that can go wrong usually does!

A massive responsibility is usually and typically ignored here – that of the safety of the clients being monitored by your control room!  Break-ins, life threatening emergencies, or worse, can occur whilst your control room is out of action or off the air and non-responsive.  And to make matters worse, these situations can place your business, and you, in extremely precarious legal positions.

Answers:

Have suitable back-up equipment readily available on and off-site
Take regular and consistent data back-ups – on and off-site
Ensure that your system back-up mechanism (RMS) is installed and enabled
Ensure that your internet connection for this off-site back-up is working
Check with WatchManager that your daily back-ups are being logged

The WatchManager RMS service is a very important, powerful and benefit-rich module that you should NOT be without.  It’s the difference between being off-line for minutes or days!