Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/08/2014 -- At Cavan Group we know how critically important disaster recovery planning is.  We live it everyday, working with our clients to ensure they are well prepared should a disaster occur affecting information technology.  Many companies feel they are ready, until there is actually a disaster.  That's when they learn what was actually missing from their planning, and frankly that's usually when they call us.

We find that there are 10 reasons disaster recovery plans fail.  Avoiding all of these can help ensure success with your company's plan.

1)    The disaster recovery plan is never communicated correctly, or in some cases never communicated at all.  This happens when companies create a plan only because they are required to by some kind of mandate, like to get approval in an audit.  As a result the plan is somewhat meaningless and no one has a copy or is even aware there is a plan.

2)    The plan is considered "shelfware."  Unlike #1, there is a written plan, but it was created and put on a shelf, never distributed, discussed or updated.  And perhaps most importantly, it was never tested.  So in this case your company has a plan but has no idea if it will work.  And in our experience, this always means it will not.

3)    Often disaster recovery doesn't include consideration for actual production.  There is no mechanism in place to ensure that disaster recovery can support a company's production.  Disaster recovery must have parity in compute, storage and capability and if it doesn't, the plan if implemented can run into trouble very quickly.

4)    There is too much detail in the plan.  An overly complex recovery plan can be a real problem when the moment comes to use it.  In times of real crisis, plans need to be crisp, familiar and actionable.  It's been proven that too many tables, look-ups and references won't work.  The best disaster recovery plan is one that can easily be used by knowledgeable people to guide them through a failover/recovery.

5)    Too little detail.  Obviously this is the opposite of number 4.  It's equally problematic when there is not enough information in the disaster recovery plan.  When it's too high level and doesn't go deep enough, it can't succeed in allowing a company to execute a timely recovery.

6)    Failure to have a back-up power plan.  Many companies have a disaster recovery plan, which would allow a failover to be accomplished, but in the new environment there is not sufficient power for the load.

7)    Insufficient back-up in the plan.  You plan will certainly run into trouble when there are inadequacies in capacity, capability and/or availability of back-ups.

8)    A lack of understanding of the business continuity plan could create a disconnect rendering your disaster recovery a failure.  In other words, the disaster recovery plan might not meet the needs of the business itself in areas like timing, capacity, location and availability etc.

9)    No consideration for how staff will function during the disaster recovery.  It's important to have a plan, but a real problem when your staff is not trained to fill in or handle other duties during a recovery.

10) And finally, it can mean failure when your disaster recovery training differs radically from the actual disaster recovery.  This can happen when the training exercise is not sufficient for either training or testing the validity of a disaster recovery effort.  In disaster recovery, it's important to "train like you fight, and fight like you train."

At Cavan Group, we take disaster recovery very seriously and work carefully with our clients to avoid all of these causes of disaster recovery failure.

Learn more at http://www.cavangroup.com/

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Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/27/2014 -- In terms of specifics, disaster recovery planning can contain many different elements, chosen based on the needs of the company involved.  That's why when we meet with our clients to discuss disaster recovery, we take the time to fully understand their business and specific recovery needs.  However, over the years we've found that there are a few common considerations necessary to develop and implement any successful DR strategy.

1. It is important to secure the buy-in of top management at your company.  This helps guarantee a couple of things.  It ensures that everyone is on board and that they will communicate the message as a top priority.  This can also help secure adequate funding and participation in the planning process.

2. Start with conducting a business impact analysis.  This takes into account all aspects of the company's recovery needs, not just those of the IT department.  This will ensure that you plan and build what the business needs for recovery, as well as when and how they need it.  IT's view of what's important may not equate with the requirements of the business as a whole, in terms of things like timing or scope.

3. Write the DR plan with the end state in mind.  In other words, define what the DR environment will be on day one of a failover.  This may sound obvious but it is not always done.  If you work with the business to frame the project this way it will yield actionable results.

4. Communication is always a key.  Involving a broad audience within the company helps with buy-in and helps ensure success.  Communicate what's being planned for disaster recovery every step of the way and make sure that all interested parties have a voice in the plan's development.

5. Build testing into the DR strategy.  Everyone should agree on the importance of annual testing and evaluation with follow-up consideration for necessary adjustments and improvements.

6. Don't forget your passwords!  That is, don't forget to include vital passwords in the DR plan itself.  Many disaster recovery tests and real life events have struggled due to the inability to secure appropriate passwords.

7. Don't make it overly complex.  Too much complexity can be a problem when disaster strikes.

8. Identify clear roles and responsibilities for disaster recovery.  Establish who does what and when.  Set-up necessary command, control and communication guidelines so that everyone is ready should disaster strike.

Of course this is not a list of everything that goes into disaster recovery planning, but it does represent the kind of comprehensive approach the Cavan Group takes with all our clients.  The bottom line… a successful disaster recovery always starts with a well-considered DR plan, and the elements in this list can help your company achieve that result.

Learn more at http://www.cavangroup.com/

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Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/11/2014 -- The Cavan Group is pleased to announce five new employees recently hired for key positions at the professional services company; Senior Project Managers, John Manning, Stephen Harlow and Victor Caggiano; Project Manager, Itesh Shah and Assistant Project Manager, Anna Evans. These new hires have occurred over the past several months in response to Cavan's success and the continued growth of their client portfolio.

"We are excited to have these highly qualified professionals joining our team," said John Martin, President of The Cavan Group. "Each brings a depth of industry experience that will ensure our ability to continue to provide exceptional service for our clients."

John Manning comes to The Cavan Group with over 20 years of experience in Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Data Center Operations and Data Center Administration and Expansion. He will serve as a Senior Project Manager for Cavan. Previously John was a Sr. Project Manager with EMC Consulting and prior to that an Associate Partner at Harvard Partners, Management Consulting specializing in Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity and Operational Resilience.

John has also held positions at Wellington Management Company, LLP, State Street Bank, The Boston Company and State Street Global Advisors.

Stephen Harlow also joins The Cavan Group as Senior Project Manager, bringing 15 years of experience in project management and software development. Recently Global Project Manager for Dentsply Implants, he has extensive experience in partnering with technical experts to understand applications architecture, interdependencies and constraints. Prior to that, Stephen was Project Manager for Axeda Corporation, working for their divisions in Italy and Austria.

Victor Caggiano is joining Cavan as Senior Project Manager with 12 years of IT experience, including data center management, corporate IT strategy/execution and Project Management skills. Prior to joining Cavan, Victor worked at Alan Gray, Inc., an international financial services and insurance consulting firm, as the Director of Information Technology where he not only managed the organization's network infrastructure and data center, but also performed as a Program Manager for a number of consulting projects with leading insurers and Fortune 500 companies.

Itesh Shah joined the Cavan Group as Project Manager with 14 years of experience in IT Infrastructure management. Most recently Itesh worked for Network Health in Boston and has managed projects in a variety of enterprises, including healthcare, retail, and government. These projects included the planning and management of data center migrations, IT business continuity planning, IT DR infrastructure build and application testing, network monitoring, IT infrastructure assessment and application migration.

And finally, Anna Evans is joining Cavan as an Assistant Project Manager. She recently got her Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University's College of Engineering after previously graduating Cum Laude from Boston University with a BS in Electrical Engineering.

The Cavan Group is a Boston-based professional services firm specializing in IT Project Management and Consulting and is one of the most respected and competent organizations in the technology services arena. The company was founded in 1994 and has four main Practice Areas: Data Center Services, Disaster Recovery/BCP, IT Project Management and IT Consulting & Advisory Services.

For more information visit http://www.cavangroup.com/ or contact COO Judy Skeffington at jskeffington@cavangroup.com

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