The Business Continuity roadshow received praise from local end-users

Four of the technology industry’s leading vendors – Hitachi Data Systems, Juniper, Sun Microsystems, and Symantec – recently hit the road to undertake a unique initiative and educate Saudi’s business community on the benefits of a comprehensive business continuity strategy.

Focusing on how corporations can overcome operational failures, the four technology vendors stopped in Saudi Arabia’s three main cities – Riyadh, Jeddah, and Al Khobar – to meet with decision makers and brief them on the latest strategies and technologies used to ensure business continuity, the practice of keeping your company functioning no matter the circumstances.

With each vendor focusing on a core component of business continuity and leveraging off its own know-how, including Juniper’s networking expertise, Hitachi Data System’s best of breed storage products, Sun’s industry leading position as the number one vendor in tape storage, and Symantec’s pioneering back-up software solutions, end-users were given a complete understanding of an end-to-end business continuity strategy, covering both the theory and practical examples.

“Business continuity is much more than a few boxes in your data centre, it’s a complete appraisal of how you view your corporation and the steps you take to ensure that no matter what happens, your business can keep running,” said David Beck, Sun Microsystems Middle East and North Africa Storage Practice Manager who was presenting on the business case for disaster recovery. “What we wanted to do was to convey that message to decision makers, be they IT professionals or business executives, to make them aware of the importance of having access to and keeping their data same and sound at all times.”

With representatives from over 100 companies attending the roadshow, attendees touched on every aspect of how their businesses in partnership with vendor subject matter experts, including Juniper Networks’ regional manager for emerging technologies group MEA Mahmoud Samy. Samy briefed audiences on WAN application optimization, a subject which is becoming ever more important as managers look for ways to increase their bandwidth.

“Why did we sign up for this unique collaboration? It’s simple, no single vendor can provide the complete solution for any business today. We’ve seen the issues and concerns that businesses have in Saudi Arabia when it comes to their networking, and we are working with partners such as Sun, Hitachi Data Systems, and Symantec to ensure that Juniper can deliver on its promise of a network that delivers the service you need to expand your data migration requirements,” said Samy.

Addressing the enterprise segment, Andrew Mason, solution and technology manager, Hitachi Data Systems, delved into the technology behind the vendor’s optimized storage platforms. A worldwide partner with Sun Microsystems, Hitach Data Systems has been at the forefront of the storage industry for the last decade. “We are in the unique position of enabling our customers to develop resilient, adaptive data platforms that deliver beyond their expectations. But again, it’s all about a partnership. The hardware is only as good as the strategy that it is being used for, and it’s important that we get the message across to customers that they need to take a birds eye view of their requirements, and work accordingly,” said Mason.

Symantec’s two speakers, John Ross, Symantec business continuity practice leader, Middle East and North Africa, and Andrew McCrakan, Symantec business continuity practice leader, Europe, Middle East and Africa, discussed the theme of IT risk management from a top-level consultancy perspective. With the stark reality that risks, both in the wild and inside companies themselves, are increasing, both Ross and McCrakan pushed the message that no matter the budget, companies should look to developing a business continuity strategy that can safeguard information through a best practice approach.

“It’s not just about reforming the technology. Companies need to take a second look at how their people and processes operate to ensure that the balance between IT costs and risks is achieved. Otherwise your business will not be performing as it should be, and what’s worse is that your data will be under threat. No company, whatever the size, should take that risk,” said McCrakan.

With large turnouts in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, business executives were impressed by the close co-operation between the four vendors, as well as the relevance of the messages from the speakers. “The event wasn’t the usual sales pitch. These vendors have been listening to the market, trying to understand our pain points, and see how they can work together to help us get past those pain points. I was impressed, and I hope to see similar events soon,” said Michael Warrior, senior manager and head of business continuity management, Al-Rajhi Bank.