One of the most common causes of server failure and data loss in contact centres is hard-drive failure. This is due to the fact that most disk drives today still use moving parts. Solid state drives (SSDs), which have no moving parts, are available, but they can suffer degradation after a number of years depending on the usage.
Hostcomm has more than 300 servers within its network which is located in across five datacentres. Having this many servers gives us a good insight into the likely causes of a server failure and possible data loss. We've drawn on this experience to create data management and back up processes for our contact centre clients.
We'd like to share this insight with you, providing you with eight ways to reduce the impact on your business in the event of a server failure:
1. Regularly changing servers
This ensures the hardware always has a reasonably long "shelf life".
2. RAID arrays
This mirrors the data over two or more disk drives so that if a drive fails the others can instantly take over. Hardware RAID is required, not software RAID, which requires too much server resource.
3. Server clustering
This spreads the server components over several physical machines meaning there is no single point of failure.
4. Remote database backup
Having a remote (offsite) back up protects against disasters relating to the server or data-centre.
5. Master/Slave database set up
This mirrors the database to another local machine which is ready to take over if the main server fails.
6. FTP transfer
Transferring the database and call recordings overnight to a remote server.
7. Portable drive backups
This can be done if the data cannot be copied over an internet connection due to its size.
8. Replicating to a CRM system
Thereby having two sources of live data.
Many business are reducing their data back-up burden by moving their systems to cloud contact centres. By hosting their data in the cloud, they are reducing the cost and burden of maintaining on-premise hardware. But be forewarned, this doesn't remove the risk of server failure and data loss. Find a cloud contact centre provider with experience and well defined processes so you can focus on your contact centre performance.
If you are still concerned about the impact to your business in the event of a server failure, tell us your requirements and together we’ll work through your business processes to determine which option would be best suited to your organisation or if a cloud contact centre is right for you.
For more information on cloud contact centres visit our site here.
