Making the most of the compactness, computing power and ease of use of smartphones, OpsCentre now has a new smartphone app for business continuity plans. Named MIRA for “Mobile Incident Response Application”, the app makes the most of the features on smartphones that are absent in other computing platforms. Paper-based or even PC-based systems, which remain relatively static, cannot provide the same solutions to different challenges of a disaster situation. For example: what possibilities do you have for immediately locating different members of your organisation? And how can you contact them instantaneously to update them and track recovery progress?
MIRA from OpsCentre uses the GPS positioning and SMS messaging of smartphones to provide solutions for both questions. The overall effect of this smartphone app for business continuity plans is to considerably reduce recovery time. Knowing where people are at any given time through geo-localisation means increased efficiency and additional possibilities of redeployment. Smartphone capability and the design of MIRA lets you send customised updates to each business recovery team member, tailored to that person’s specific role in the process. Real-time monitoring of incidents and recovery can be done on an individual or team basis, or even for the whole organisation. MIRA runs on major smartphone operating systems and devices being used today – Apple iPhone, Google Android and RIM Blackberry devices.
Making effective use of a smartphone app for business continuity plan is also a matter of making it part of an overall business continuity strategy. Just as PC software or printed manuals alone cannot guarantee effective business continuity, smartphone apps also need to be integrated into a total business continuity plan. However, in an approach that appropriately assesses risks, solutions and performance objectives, the additional advantage of MIRA is optimisation through the use of a powerful yet compact tool that people can literally have with them at all times.