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Operation Fifteen Technology Recovery
The fire at the Fifteen Foundation & Fifteen Melbourne offices occurred on 5th June 2008 and devastated everything in its path. ZyNet's Managing Director Paul Turner was contacted on the night of the fire while on holiday in Queensland but that did not deter the immediate response, planning and coordination that were executed to prepare for the recovery ahead.

All business technology services were abruptly halted by the devastating impact of the fire. The fire destroyed all centralised server, network, desktops, laptops and communications equipment that were core to delivering technology services to the Fifteen Melbourne Restaurant, Fifteen Foundation and Fifteen Melbourne Offices. This included core systems for reservations, point of sale, telephony, email, internet, access to critical documents, contracts, sponsorship arrangements just to name a few. The fire also came at a crucial point in time when Fifteen were about to commence with the next intake of trainees. It almost caused the cancellation of the next group of trainees due to the challenges it presented, but to their credit and passion for the cause Fifteen Management and staff pressed on.

Technology provider ZyNet was engaged to complete the project that was termed Operation Fifteen Technology Recovery. ZyNet were responsible for managing and implementing temporary services, the project management and third party vendor management, provisioning of supporting business services and implementing all new technology that was destroyed among a number of other service restoration requirements. Also responsible for the management of third party vendors to ensure that all services were reactivated so that Fifteen could continue operating the restaurant while recovery assessments and damage control was put into play by what was described as a responsive team at ZyNet. ZyNet were able to completely recover all data and systems information without a serviceable backup being available - now that's a great story. In this case luck was on the side of Fifteen. That said the technology recovery was an involved, complex and time consuming undertaking that included forensic analysis and recovery activities, restructuring of data in a workable format, build of temporary systems to assess the data, testing of core business systems just to name a few requirements.

This disaster made it crystal clear that a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plan that is validated and tested regularly is crucial to any business regardless of size, especially in the uncertain times ahead where additional surprises for SMB would be costly not to mention stressful and unwelcome for business owners. If data was unrecoverable it may have caused more devastation than the actual fire did for the Fifteen operation due to the permanent loss of sensitive data, contracts, sponsorship offerings, documentation etc that would have been the result

It is understood that ZyNet build trusted advisor partnerships with customers and Fifteen was no exception, including close ties with the Fifteen Foundation and Fifteen Melbourne Restaurant management and staff including Peter Brown who is the Executive Director of the Foundation and Executive Head Chef of the restaurant Tobie Puttock.

ZyNet have been involved as a sponsor and technology partner of the Fifteen concept and operation in Melbourne since inception in 2006. It is important that a technology provider comprehensively understands business systems and processes along with the technology that supports same. Without this trusted relationship the result may have been different.

One of the key aspects which directly relates to the Cisco Solution was the trusted relationship established with Fifteen owners, management and staff and the vast breadth and depth knowledge in reference to technology requirements, business process and the all important business communications needs that ZyNet retained. The selection of key technologies that would drive the resurrection of Fifteen's operation was ZyNet's responsibility.

Cisco was the platform of choice for smart business communications due to the quality and flexibility of the solution that would provide a key communications base for Fifteen Foundation and the Fifteen Melbourne Restaurant. It is also important to add that the well established partnership between ZyNet and Cisco was key, as was the support and guidance offered to ZyNet by the close business relationship held with Territory Market Manager Simon Bahen. All this delivered extreme satisfaction for Fifteen with the business transformation that was achieved, especially considering the devastation of the fire.

ZyNet's experience with designing and implementing solutions that incorporated Cisco technologies had proven to be such a success for existing customers that it made Cisco the one and only choice when it came to deploying a communications solution. The Communications Platform provides a solid and robust solution for addressing many specific requirements to assist in providing a great customer experience for Fifteen customers, including the potential for introducing competitive advantage. This required the flexibility to incorporate routing of calls to the various areas including the Foundation, restaurant, reservations and management team. It needed to have the capacity for interchangeable voice recordings, voice mail delivered also via email to the recipient, access to the telephone system from a remote location over the internet and more.  For a small organisation with some unique requirements the Cisco solution made it easy and cost effective.

The first stage saw the introduction of key business requirements but the capabilities of the system aligned with growth are described as almost endless. One of the next planned stages is to integrate the system with the Fifteen Customer Database and Reservations System that will provide customer intelligence as a customer calls for a booking such as the name of the customer (before the call is answered), when they last dined at Fifteen, any specific requirements, preferred table, preferred dish, their birthday and the list goes on. This intelligence built into the system will significantly improve the customer experience. The beauty of the solution is that it can be adopted in so many ways for so many different business types and applications. A unique differentiator for any business.

ZyNet Pty Ltd is a leading provider of dynamic information technology solutions for small and mid-size companies. A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and Small Business Specialist, ZyNet provides secure, reliable time- and money-saving solutions to business customers. By developing a comprehensive understanding of customer business environments answers to business problems are found using smart technology solutions. www.zynet.com.au

Some useful tips from the Paul Turner the MD at ZyNet

• Seek greater efficiency from your technology to improve business operations and processes using a qualified technology partner - many systems are under utilised
• Realise the importance of a comprehensive, well documented and validated Disaster Recovery plan - it can happen to you
• Seek a technology partner with a proven track record for providing unique ways to maintain, support and manage your IT environment on a fixed budget - especially important in uncertain times ahead
• Use a technology partner that will think outside the square and look at solutions
          that may offer a competitive advantage for your business

Put technology to work for your business today. Click here to contact us today or call our consultants on (03) 9372 9555.

• Case Studies:
• Fifteen Melbourne