Adcorp Accountability, a leading provider of accounting, payroll and support services to the flexible staffing industry, has signed a comprehensive agreement with SafeGuard iT for specialist disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity management (BCM) services for its central administration facility.
SafeGuard iT is a joint venture between leading IT company, AST Group and the international provider of non-stop business and IT solutions, Guardian iT.
"Business continuity is vital for any organisation," explains Bernard Vertenten, GM of SafeGuard iT. "The payroll system is a significant example. When it is used to pay thousands of people per week, as is the case with Adcorp Accountability, loss of this system would result in the inability to pay staff timeously, resulting in possible staff loss and accompanying revenue loss."
"Furthermore, as an established shared services centre for the Adcorp Flexible Staffing Companies, as well as outside organisations, the requirement for a disaster recovery service to ensure continued system availability is more important than ever for the Adcorp Accountability," adds Vertenten.
In terms of the agreement, SafeGuard iT will provide Adcorp Accountability with a flexible and complete service which supports localised and entire site disasters, allowing Adcorp Accountability access to replacement IT facilities at SafeGuard iT`s facilities in Midrand within hours of disruption. In addition, SafeGuard iT will provide printing facilities for production of payslips and invoices.
"Our investigation of the local market showed that SafeGuard iT offered the most suitable offering for our business, due to its international links, service quality, choice and flexibility across all platforms and access to AST`s IT infrastructure," says Matthew Campbell of Adcorp Accountability. "SafeGuard iT`s service provision gives us the peace of mind that, in the event of an outage, we will be able to recover our critical processes. The deciding factor, however, was SafeGuard iT`s understanding of risk elimination. The elimination of risk is our key service philosophy."
The service will make provision for static access for all of Accountability`s systems. This will allow SafeGuard iT to provide support, should a disaster destroy Accountability`s central IT infrastructure. A 24-hour relocateable service is incorporated, providing systems to Adcorp Accountability`s and remote locations, should one or more systems fail while the site remains intact.
If the nature of the disaster is such that it is necessary, office accommodation and facilities for key Accountability staff will be provided within SafeGuard iT`s Recovery Centre in Midrand. Each staff member will be provided with the necessary equipment to continue working.
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The AST Group is one of SA`s largest information and communication technology (ICT) services companies independent of any vendor. It is the fourth largest company overall, by market capitalisation, listed in the technology sector of the JSE Securities Exchange.
The AST Group, operating from more than 60 sites, services large corporate and government clients throughout SA and has expanded to other Southern African states, Australia and the UK. Employing more than 3 500 ICT professionals, exploiting best-of-breed technology and applying international best practices, the AST Group provides services across the entire plan-build-run-leverage value creating cycle.
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