Among the previous articles you’ve read in our blog, you may have noticed that besides discussing how good business continuity management can save organisations from disaster, we also like to point out where it can also simply save you money. Here’s one of those cases. Satellite communications may intuitively seem to be more expensive than landline links. It’s easy to assume that with project and launch costs running into astronomical amounts, it won’t necessarily be the cheapest option for making phone calls or network connections. But is that really the case?
Before we discuss financials, let’s consider why you might want satellite communications in the first place. From a business continuity point of view, satellites are out of harm’s way when it comes to floods, fire, storms and lightening, all of which can destroy fixed line connections. As long as an organisation’s emergency operations centre is still functioning, routing calls via a satellite dish on the roof and over a satellite link can make a huge difference to the ability to continue to respond and manage when disaster hits. Switchboards, fixed lines and mobile phones can all be diverted via the satellite link if required, as can incoming calls to the centre.
But here’s the other advantage that can help senior management decide to implement this kind of business continuity. Calls over satellite links may work out cheaper than when using the conventional terrestrial network. In fact, at least one company offering this kind of solution not only allocates satellite link bandwidth to each customer, but also recommends that the customer saves money by using that bandwidth in all circumstances, whether exceptional or normal. Of course, it’s up to each organisation to compare different connectivity solutions and prices. But if you’d like improved business continuity and cost-savings, get your calculator out and see if there’s a satellite service that could bring you both.