How Would Losing Access To Your Critical Applications Impact Business Continuity?
Published on 20/01/2021
Recently we have seen a shift in the way organisations integrate critical applications into their business. We are seeing organisations gravitate towards applications delivered through a hosting partner (e.g. AWS, Azure or Google Cloud Platform etc.) using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model and away from procuring on-premise applications.
This provides many benefits to the end user, namely significant cost and time savings as the application no longer requires its own infrastructure and has the potential to be more flexible, compatible and accessible.
In many cases however, the software supplier owns the relationship with the hosting partner. Therefore, should the supplier suffer failure and no longer be able to support the application, the software user has no control over the continuation of service and would typically lose not just the service that they have invested in and rely upon, but also the data held with the hosting partner. This data loss can often be more devastating than the loss of service.
Standard SaaS Escrow Agreements go some way to mitigating this risk. They typically provide access to source code, data and (if you have opted for the additional validation/verification) the deployment guide.
However, it is important to understand that the software user, not the Escrow provider is responsible for recreating the service in the event of release under the Escrow terms. This can be a challenge as it relies on you already having the expertise in house or sourcing a developer to redeploy the application on short notice. The Licensee Continuity Plan (LCP) from SES is different.
The LCP Escrow agreement is designed to guarantee complete and rapid accessibility to hosted applications in the event that the hosted environment or supplier are no longer available to provide the service.
This market leading service is a live and functioning disaster recovery solution. When called upon, SES will be responsible for rapidly recreating the working service on your behalf. Following a confirmed release, the LCP will provide a guaranteed period of service continuity. This provides you with invaluable time to make alternative arrangements – whether that is bringing the service in house or transitioning to a replacement. This period of continuity is built into the coverage from the start and guaranteed by SES.
To speak to one of our specialists about your business continuity requirements and discuss our LCP Agreement in more detail, please get in touch.
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