We think of “the cloud” as a creation of the modern digital world. In times of disaster, connectivity has become central to our everyday businesses, both personally and professionally. Where communications are concerned, this is especially true for companies trying to stay in touch with its employees and customers.
Rather than each business having its isolated computer infrastructure, many forward-thinking companies have learned to rely on the cloud. Enterprise-ready cloud service providers have disaster recovery, and business continuity plans to keep their customers’ up and running even under the worst-case scenario. For those affected by the recent Hurricanes in the United States, it is it reassuring to see how cloud providers can stand up to the devastation created by extreme storms, as it becomes a matter of life and death.
There are Fax Clouds and Storm Clouds
During Hurricane Irma, Retarus was tested for the same resiliency and flexibility. Before the storm rolled in, a major healthcare laboratory was worried about preparing their local labs for the high-speed winds. They wanted the staff to know HQ was closely monitoring the storm and putting the safety of their employees and patients as paramount importance. With that, they empowered their site managers to decide when to close their facility and focus on their safety. They supplied corporate phone numbers so staff and patients could call in no matter the state of the weather, and looked to keep the laboratory processing open during the storm. Using Retarus, they sent out a managed fax campaign to over 50,000 names in just a few minutes, despite the pounding weather outside.
In the same storm, another client’s on-premise data center was stricken; electricity failed, their generators and servers were rendered inoperable by rising floodwaters. Directly impacted was their email system, and antivirus/antispam protection. Despite this catastrophe, the company’s global business continued to function with thousands of emails coming toward the imperiled data center. Utilizing Retarus’ cloud-based E-Mail Security services, Retarus securely transferred all their email traffic through the cloud, filtering and protecting their e-mail flow. The cloud allowed the business to continue to operate even when disaster walloped the data center. After the water receded and the company’s data center was fully functional, Retarus was able to transfer all the emails received during that period, ensuring complete business continuity.
Get Ready for the Next Storm
The healing and rebuilding after the storm are progressing in the US. We at Retarus send heartfelt wishes for a rapid recovery and for any companies who want to prepare for the next natural event we stand ready to meet your needs for compliance and redundancy. Many places in the US and the Caribbean are still suffering; we hope you will join us and help through donations and supplies to this area.
