ContinuitySA builds on business growth in Mauritius

As a fast-growing emerging economy, the Mauritian government has been focused on attracting foreign investment for a number of years. The Mauritian Board of Investment recently hosted a conference designed to highlight the opportunities on the island country, at which ContinuitySA was invited to speak in the Data Centre Strategies stream.

The focus of ContinuitySA's presentation was the importance of business continuity management on the island.

In its efforts to attract business investment, Mauritius has created an IT infrastructure, culminating in its modern, well-equipped and connected Cyber City, located a few kilometres outside the capital, Port Louis. Through this world-beating infrastructure, together with the addition of excellent communications capabilities connecting Mauritius (and the rest of Africa) to the world, Mauritius has become a well-connected offsite location with excellent communications infrastructure.

“It was this fact that prompted ContinuitySA to establish a disaster recovery location on the island,” explained Ansophie Strydom, GM of business development at ContinuitySA, in her presentation. “The companies investing in Mauritius need to know they are able to continue operations in case of a disaster of any kind. Moreover, many of the firms investing in Mauritius use ContinuitySA's services in Africa and wanted to do the same in their new location.”

Another benefit for ContinuitySA in setting up a disaster recovery centre in Mauritius is the additional bandwidth that will become available to the island in the near future, as a result of undersea fibre-optic cable connections that have and are being laid at the moment. “The additional bandwidth makes Mauritius a prime offsite backup location for companies looking for a safe, stable and accessible offshore recovery site.

“The conference also highlighted the efforts the Mauritian government has made in making it easy to do business there. Some of the rewards include tax incentives to open a business there, well-educated people, a BPO (business process outsourcing) mindset among its leaders, its infrastructure, and the fabulous lifestyle.

Strydom noted that while ContinuitySA is already operating in the country, it is in the process of setting up a new offsite recovery centre away from Port Louis in a joint venture with local partners Mauritius Telecomms and Blanche Birger. “Effective business continuity planning necessitates a recovery site that is far from the business's main location,” she explains. “Fortunately, Mauritius has a number of good locations available and is willing to collaborate with investors to ensure the country's future prosperity.”

People are one of the cornerstones of effective business continuity management, Strydom continued. “Real business continuity is more than simply taking care of your IT systems and data. Effective and reliable recovery means ensuring your critical people, technology and business processes have been identified and can be relocated as required to keep crucial operations running.”

The backing of the Mauritian leadership is a critical aspect of ContinuitySA's success in the country. The BPO mindset that created Cyber City, for example, also understands that companies do not use offshore companies unless they are assured their service provider is capable of delivering the required service efficiently, reliably and continually. This business focus has transformed the country into a skills and infrastructure-rich business and communications hub of the region.