After the third time a client of mine was relieved of a few too many computers I started to think about what would happen if a fire totally destroyed the building they were in. It made for an interesting process by which it became clear that Groove was the one gem no one ever thought of as part of their disaster relief planning. No amount of backups was going to even begin to compare to the fact that with Groove (in a scenario where we share the workspace with our client) our firm could immediately start the recovery process for our client. Let me explain:
The Groove workspace contains some of following critical pieces of information:
IT schematic: cabling, servers, systems by departments, user details all the way out to the ISP details
Complete Hardware Asset Listing with specifics of each piece of equipment as well as date of purchase, warranty details, serial number
Complete Software Licence Inventory: Including Software Assurance benefits with expiration dates, usage to date, type: OEM, upgrades, volume purchasing
Security and Storage: often the IT is also responsible in some capacity for the security system: when and how they are installed, how accessed externally etc as well as of-site storage for backups. That information and how to get a hold of things like backups is critical details to access since it may take days to retrieve .
The additional benefit for both client and outsource in this particular scenario is that the outsource can be proactive with the client for renewals, budgets and issue tracking (jut some of the things you can do in Groove) without having to go through email. The whole IT outsource engagement is far superior for the person responsible on the client side. It also helps the outsource to better manage the client.
It will never be a question that if the time ever comes the Groove solution is not only a valuable tool it is also a new way for IT firms to manage their client base.
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