eHosting DataFort partners with Singapore's BCM Institute to offer business continuity and data recovery services

The partnership enables eHDF to provide regional clients with professional services on Business Continuity Management (BCM), a domain devoted to ensuring that business operations continue even through crisis situations, and Disaster Recovery (DR), which refers to recovery of technology services after an adverse event.

The services offered by the partnership will also include consultancy on BCM and DR, as well as training, assessment, assurance, auditing and certification.

Mohammad Fouz, CEO of EHDF, said:

"eHDF's broad-based expertise in all facets of IT, in addition to its status as a well entrenched leader in the Middle East, and BCM Institute's standing as a global major in BCM and DR certification demonstrate a perfect match. The synergies of this partnership will significantly benefit a large number of organisations in the region. We continuously strive to provide our clients in the Middle East with the latest and best IT services. This partnership is a testament to our dedication to ensuring that our clients have access to the top-notch services founded on international best practices."

Dr Goh Moh Heng, President of the BCM Institute and Managing Director of GMH , said: "eHDF has demonstrated its expertise in building and managing data centers, providing data centre services and DR services. Similiarly to BCM Institute, GMH has already delivered BCM consulting, implementation, testing, assurance and audit services across the world.

"Together, eHDF, the BCM Institute and GMH will offer an integrated service that will be delivered by competent, experienced and certified professionals."

According to commonly accepted statistics, around 40 per cent of businesses experiencing a serious disaster never re-open, and of those that re-open, almost 30% close within two years. Post disruption, companies on an average experience a 107% drop in profits - driven by lower sales and increased costs - while nearly 43 per cent companies that have suffered business disruptions state that it takes two months or sometimes even longer to recover fully from such a situation. What's more, an effective Business Continuity Plan can reduce the total loss by more than 90 per cent. Clearly, therefore, investment in Business Continuity preparedness is 'money well spent'.

The eHDF-BCM Institute-GMH partnership seeks to fill a void in the Middle East in offering high-quality and dependable BCM and DR services in a seamless manner, while raising awareness on the importance of companies to have adequate preparedness in place to meet unforeseen challenges.

The BCM Institute certification is currently carried by over 1,230 professionals in over 36 countries across the world. Headquartered out of Singapore, and other than the Middle East, BCM Institute also operates in India, Mauritius, Malaysia, China, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria and Russia.

The partnership with BCM Institute and GMH also marks the next phase of eHDF's expanding network of technology and channel partners based in the GCC, MENA, Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific regions. Recently, eHDF entered into a partnership with Virtusa Corporation, a global IT services major, to offer regional enterprises a complete portfolio of IT solutions with increased international reach.