Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery

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1 knowledge partner MARKET INSIGHT Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Considerations for Saudi Organizations I [email protected]

2 About Us Mobily; the official brand name of Etihad Etisalat Company, is the leading ICT solutions provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Established in 2004, Mobily is the 2nd operator to launch mobile services in the Saudi telecommunication market and is publicly listed at Tadawul Stock Exchange in Riyadh. Today, it offers the largest and most advanced portfolio of ICT Solutions in the Kingdom; encompassing Datacenter, Business Cloud, Information Security, Business Continuity, Infrastructure and Unified Collaboration solutions. Mobily presents its ICT portfolio as the most reliable, diverse and cost effective option for Saudi businesses by leveraging its industry-leading data network, superior connectivity and world-class infrastructure; which includes: Tier-II, Tier-III and Tier-IV Uptime Institute certified datacenter facilities located across the Kingdom. Thus, promising the highest level of availability, geographic redundancy, and physical as well as network security. ISO/IEC 27001:2005 ISMS, SAP certified and Cisco powered enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure offering fully scalable cloud solutions while guaranteeing resiliency, efficiency and availability that matches global standards. A Security Operations Center (SOC) certified to ISO 9001:27001 standards plus Coalfire and SAS- 70 Type-II accreditations. The SOC is located in Mobily s Tier-IV Certified Data Center in Riyadh which ensures your business critical data is highly secure and available around the clock. Mobily has secured its position as the ICT leader in the Kingdom by dynamically and continuously enhancing its capabilities. Consistent with this approach, it has established strategic alliances with key international ICT players such as Accenture, Cisco, EMC2, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, SAP and Virtustream. The global expertise of these partners empower Mobily to offer cutting edge technologies with topclass support to the local market. Mobily ICT solutions connect businesses of all types and sizes to limitless possibilities; offering them significant financial, operational and technological benefits. Meanwhile, the one-stop shop service model offered by Mobily helps to eliminate all hassles of managing multiple vendors and dealing with associated technology risks - giving businesses a complete peace of mind. Data Center Business Cloud Information Security Business Continuity & Risilliency Unified Collaboration Managed Infrastructure 1

3 Executive Summary In the last few years, organizations worldwide have faced dynamic and unpredictable disruptions in their business operations. Even the largest and most IT-savvy organizations have had disruptions, including system failures, cyberattacks and defacement of their websites, while many have been affected by natural calamities (e.g., earthquakes and floods). Businesses worldwide have encountered a variety of disruptions, including natural disasters, vandalism, terrorism, data loss and security breaches, systems and equipment failures, power and communication outages. Organizations realize that these events are likely to happen and that businesses can only do so much to guard against them. However, it is more important to ensure quicker recovery with minimum or acceptable loss. This is precisely where business continuity and disaster recovery strategies are becoming a critical part of organizations overall IT strategies. Saudi organizations have been facing significant challenges in managing IT due to a shortage of skilled ICT personnel and continuously increasing costs. In this scenario, meeting business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) requirements is likely to add further complexities to the problem at hand. This is where managed BC/DR services come in as a viable option with significant added value for CIOs and IT managers. Managed BC/DR services offer a solution in which the service provider takes ownership of managing the DR requirements of an organization. Under such an agreement, the IT service provider guarantees backup and restoration procedures, delivery guidelines, and system restoration time in the event of a disaster, under stringent service-level agreements (SLAs). The Saudi managed BC/DR market is one of the fastest-growing markets in the Middle East. With an estimated year-on-year growth rate of 21.5%, the market size for managed BC/DR totaled SAR million in 2013; it is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.3% to SAR million through Better risk management, sustainability, and minimizing the business impact of natural and manmade disruptions are the key drivers of the increasing adoption of BC/DR services. D I S A S T E R 2

4 Infographics Section Interest in implementing private cloud, ERP and BC/DR solutions is trending in the Saudi Arabia; these solutions were ranked among the top 3 investment priorities for 2014 among CIOs across the region. In IDC s Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2014, 15% of the respondents highlighted BC/DR as a technology in which they plan to invest in Which of the following technologies / solutions are you going to implement in 2014? Private Cloud 22% ERP 17% Disaster recovery/ business continuity solutions 15% Managed Services 13% Analytics (including business Intelligence) 13% Enterprise Mobility 13% Source: IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Survey 2014 N=46 Plan B 3

5 Summary Messages Most disasters are unpredictable, and today s businesses are expected always to be prepared for the worst case scenario and strive to maintain uninterrupted business operation during times of crisis. The impact of a disaster can last from a few hours to several days of outage, which directly affects employee productivity, goodwill, customers, suppliers, and partners. In addition to that, it also effects the quality of the products and services provided; and sales and profitability (direct and indirect losses, cash flow, compensatory payments, and loss of revenue). Two very basic questions that organizations should ask themselves are: 1 How prepared are we to run our business operations normally in the event of a disaster? 2 How can we prepare for something that is so unpredictable? A simple answer to both of these questions is to have a robust BC/DR strategy in place. Identifying critical processes and workloads to keep the most important business functions running is among the most important steps in this regard. This must be followed by establishing an acceptable recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO). After taking these steps, a BC/DR plan can be developed and tested in a simulated environment. Organizations in Saudi Arabia have been increasing their spending on BC/DR solutions over the last few years, and this trend is likely to continue. According to IDC s Saudi Arabia CIO survey, 22% of the CIOs mentioned that they have already invested in BC/DR solutions, while 15% and 41% of CIOs are planning to invest in implementing BC/DR strategies in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Disaster recovery and business continuity Already implemented 22% Planning for in % Planning for in % Not before % Source: IDC Saudi Arabia CIO Summit 2014 N=46 4

6 Formulating and implementing a strong and tested BC/DR solution can be time consuming, resource intensive, and expensive. Given that organizations in Saudi Arabia are plagued with a lack of skilled ICT personnel ICT skills, implementing a BC/DR solution could be a challenge for many. As a result, managed BC/DR services emerge as a strong value proposition for organizations. Managed BC/DR services are offered by telcos and IT service providers, which take ownership of the DR facility to ensure the agreed data availability within the stipulated time under stringent SLAs. Key benefits of managed BC/DR services include: 1 Significant CAPEX and OPEX cost savings (no need to set up a DR facility) 2 Scalability as and when required, depending on business needs 3 Proactive alignment of BC/DR needs with business changes 4 Work performed by experts 5

7 Forecast Considering the increasing interest in BC/DR solutions, the adoption of managed BC/DR services is likely to increase in the coming years. According to IDC, the market size for managed BC/DR in Saudi Arabia in 2013 totaled SAR million, and it is slated to reach SAR million in 2017, growing at a CAGR of 17.3%. Given the criticality of BC/DR solutions, it is expected that managed BC/DR services will record high adoption across verticals and business segments. Key verticals likely to drive the growth of these services include banking and financial services, government, oil and gas, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare. 6

8 Questions & Answers Q1 What are the key benefits of managed BC/DR services? The benefits of managed BC/DR services go beyond cost savings. They give access to the latest technology, specialized skills and capabilities, scalability as and when required, additional bandwidth for CIOs and IT managers to drive innovation and other key projects, and access to best practices provided by the service provider. Q2 What are the various BC/DR models available? Three basic models exist for handling BC/DR requirements: dedicated, hosted, and managed. In the dedicated model, the DR site, infrastructure, and management are all owned by the organization itself; no IT service provider is involved. In the hosted model, the organization hosts its DR site with a service provider, but the infrastructure is owned by the organization itself, and not by the service provider; however, the management of the site can be performed either by the organization or by the service provider. The managed model is a true outsourcing model, whereby the service provider owns the infrastructure and manages it in addition to bearing the responsibility to meet the agreed RPO and RTO. Q3 What are the key criteria for selecting the suitable BC/DR model? An organization needs to evaluate multiple factors before selecting a model. Key attributes that should be evaluated are industry-specific regulations/compliances, the degree of control to be given to the service provider, IT security issues, cost and budget, and in-house IT capabilities and skills. Taking into consideration all of these factors will, of course, assist organizations in their decision-making processes. Q4 What are the attributes to be taken into account when evaluating a managed BC/DR service provider? Selecting a service provider is one of the most important aspects in ensuring BC/DR. In addition to technical capabilities, organizations should take into account factors including the location of the datacenter (in country or abroad), local customer references, pricing, and the professional accreditations of the staff (offered by the Business Continuity Institute, DRI International, and the International Consortium for Organizational Resilience). 7

9 Key Takeaways The uptake of BC/DR solutions and services in Saudi Arabia will increase, as a higher number of organizations are planning to implement BC/DR strategies. Saudi organizations will gain significantly from the increasing availability of managed BC/DR services. Organizations must consider various factors, including industry-specific regulations/compliances, workloads to be mirrored in the DR site, budget availability, and internal skills and capabilities before selecting a BC/DR model to address their needs. Service providers should be evaluated on their skills and capabilities, customer references within Saudi Arabia, the locations of their DR datacenters, and the associated costs of all three BC/DR models. 8

10 IDC Opinion IDC believes that organizations in Saudi Arabia will continue to invest in BC/DR solutions and services. However, challenges will arise around skills availability and the cost of setting up DR sites. These factors will drive them to adopt managed BC/DR services, as providers offer a variety of benefits, including hassle-free BC/DR management, significant CAPEX and OPEX cost benefits, and access to the latest technologies and specialized skills. These factors together will drive the growth of managed BC/DR services in Saudi Arabia in the coming years. The 2013 market size of the managed BC/DR in Saudi Arabia totaled SAR million, and it is slated to reach SAR million by 2017, growing at a CAGR of 17.3%. Saudi Arabia Managed BC/DR Services Spending % % 21% % 20% 20% % 15% 15% % % 0 0% YoY Growth 9

11 knowledge partner I [email protected]