Welcome

In business, the new year also provides the same opportunities and at Uecomm we have set new and challenging aspirations for 2007.

Late last year we completed our second Customer Satisfaction Survey. It's feedback that we take very seriously as it helps us to focus on what's most important to you.

As a result we've kicked off 2007 with clear objectives for improving the customer experience. We've created a new company division called "Customer Solutions & Operations". The team, headed by Tony Azzopardi, is charged with delivering our key customer focus areas.

In addition I have added further depth to our Executive management team welcoming Garry White, Director Marketing; Ian Noble, Director Technology; David Ray, Director Commercial and Business Development and Rebecca Lane, Director HR to the team.

The capabilities of our new team members, combined with experience of the other Directors, Brendan Park, Neil Verrall and Tony, will ensure that Uecomm will continue to deliver ground breaking products as well as customer service levels even better than those you are experiencing today.

In this edition of Wavelength, we share more of our customers' experiences with you, and we welcome the expert opinion of Frank Aue, General Manager, Enterprise Data Corporation, with his comment on disaster recovery and business continuity.

Dean Tognella
CEO, Uecomm

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Future ready network delivering immediate results

Background

The Fincorp Group is a funds management and property investment group, specialising in mortgage and property backed investment products, and manages in excess of $175 million.

The company began with one office in Camden NSW and now employs over 60 people with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Problem

Fincorp's previous network design was a Telstra broadband connection offering 512kbps to their head office in Camden, which wasn't connected to their offices in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Expansion of the business in 2005 and a desire to roll out an advanced voice over IP solution led Fincorp's CIO, Sean McCreanor to seek out a network that delivered the required bandwidth that could grow with the business.

"The major business drivers for a fibre network were real time access for staff at all three sites, security when transferring data, VoIP to enhance our service levels and reduced call costs".

"We also wanted a future ready network that satisfied our property development team, who have plans to roll out cost effective internet access to 'Over 50's' resorts to be built in Mackay and Harvey Bay," Mr McCreanor said.

Possibilities

Fincorp opted for a 10Mbps dedicated Ethernet connection and a 2Mbps link to their Melbourne and Brisbane offices.

"Fincorp now has a dedicated network that offers around 50 times the bandwidth than their previous network design, and it's scalable for future growth," said Brendan Park, Uecomm's Director of Strategy.

"With Fincorp's advanced VoIP system, Uecomm's network is helping to minimise call costs by half, and their 1300 and 1800 numbers are also directed through the network, further reducing costs," Mr Park said.

Uecomm were able to deliver Fincorp's network in under a month and staff are benefiting from inter-office connectivity and faster access to information.

"Already we're seeing improvement in morale thanks to all our offices being inter-connected and our sales team has real time access to important sales data and statistics, improving their hit rates."

"Our Ethernet network has produced a high-speed working environment that's ensuring Fincorp is more competitive within the funds and property sectors," Mr McCreanor said.

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Video over IP saves the picture for broadcaster

Background

Australian Multicultural Television (AMTV) is a consortium of community broadcasters based in Liverpool, Sydney. AMTV produces Australian ethno-specific in 26 different languages.

Problem

AMTV needed a network solution that allowed them to operate remotely from their broadcast provider, Globecast in Sydney's CBD. CEO Salvatore Scevelo was responsible for securing a specialist telecommunications provider to allow AMTV to send and receive pictures via a satellite and the internet around the clock.

Process

Uecomm installed a dedicated link from Sydney's CBD (Castlereagh St) to Liverpool, a cost-effective alternative to installing an expensive uplink facility in Liverpool.

Possibilities

AMTV now has capacity for 15Mbps, and currently uses 4Mbps to air, giving AMTV the flexibility to add additional channels.

According to Mr Scevelo, broadcasting from Sydney's CBD was never an option but being based in Liverpool, Sydney's multi-cultural heartland, was proving to be a challenge.

"Before we contacted Uecomm, we were paying for a broadcasting license and weren't even close to transmitting a picture. There was a time when I doubted that Video over IP technology would even work.

"Amazingly, Uecomm had AMTV up and broadcasting in less than a month, and a dedicated Ethernet pipe allowed the organisation to operate remotely without having to create an uplink centre in Liverpool. The cost savings of over $500,000 have been significant to an organisation such as ours."

No stranger to providing network solutions to the media sector, Uecomm delivered a two-way Ethernet pipe transferring Video over IP across a dedicated service - preventing latency and interference to the network.

"Essentially our solution enabled AMTV to be located in Liverpool, where there's limited infrastructure," said Brendan Park, Director of Strategy at Uecomm. "Our fibre network reaches into the greater metropolitan area offering a solution few other providers could match."

"Thanks to Uecomm we commenced broadcasting remotely from Liverpool in September 1, 2005 rolling out 26 different language programmes free-to-air with perfect picture quality," Mr Scevelo concluded.

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Business Continuity - is it a waste of time?

Frank P Aue, General Manager, Enterprise Data Corporation

Margins are tight, business is slow and customers are demanding more and more. Sounds familiar? Time is money, so why spend money on something that hopefully you will never use such as a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?

Most potential situations are not as dramatic as September 11, but what September 11 did was highlight that the improbable is probable. Just ask anyone who has ever been involved in a fire or some other disaster, "Could it have happened?" Well the answer before the disaster was probably, "No, not to me!" Disasters are not isolated to just the other person or the other company. Disasters are non-selective.

Risk versus Consequence

Planning for business continuity means looking at the risk and weighing up what resources you cannot do without and what the consequence is if those resources are not available. For example, how can you get access to that data or computing power or to those employees, furniture or other facilities should something happen?

For some organisations, a detailed BCP may not be required. What will dictate the degree of planning required, is the risk profile. Risk is defined as risk = likelihood x consequences, and the interaction between likelihood and consequence is shown in the following diagram.

If there is a low likelihood of disaster and low consequences for the business if a disaster occurs, then the business is bullet proof and you probably don't need to consider Business Continuity. This is the type of business that you can walk away from if a disaster occurs.

If the likelihood is low to the business and the consequences high, then you probably need to consider Business Continuity.

If the likelihood is high but with a low consequence, then again you probably will need to consider planning for Business Continuity.

If however the likelihood is high and the consequences for the business high, then developing a BCP is non-negotiable; it's a must-have.

It's commercially astute to accept some level of risk. There will be a point however where the risk profile is such that it is unreasonable and uneconomic to accept it. At this point organisations often take out insurance to spread the risk, i.e. to lessen the financial consequence. Conversely, it's unacceptable commercially to develop a million dollar Business Continuity strategy in order to protect a revenue stream of a few thousand dollars.

Key to a successful BCP strategy is identifying what the acceptable level of risk is. There is no such thing as zero risk.

IT or more?

IT has a business supporting function, and BCP should be considered part of the whole organisational strategy. The recovery of IT alone will not ensure other business functions operate, therefore it's essential to consider IT as part of the total organisation and develop a BCP accordingly.

It's likely that the IT department is already well disciplined in terms of backups for data, documentation and after hours contact procedures. Utilise this knowledge base when developing the organisation-wide BCP.

Suppliers

Ask your key suppliers (including your Telecommunication supplier) about their Business Continuity strategy. The questions asked will be the same ones you have asked your own organisation. What scenarios have they planned for? What is their fallback position? In line with their responses, you should work out how long your organisation can operate without the key supplier. What will the affect be if you don't have supply from them for one day, one week, one month? What strategies do you have in place to select another supplier if you need to replace your key one?

Conclusion

So, is Business Continuity a waste of time?

For some organisations in low-risk, low-likelihood environments, the answer may well be yes. In reality however, not many organisations can claim to be as fortunate as existing in this type of environment. September 11 has proved that the inconceivable is now conceivable. Without BCP, it's certain that a lot of time and resources will be wasted trying to work out what needs to be done after the disaster with a greater degree of failure. It may be more apt to say, not having considered and evaluated your business for BCP is instead a waste of time.

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