For over a decade, Unity Bank Plc has served individuals, businesses, and the public sector of Nigeria’s economy in the areas of investment, savings, and other retail banking operations, from over 200 locations within the country and with its team of more than 2,000 employees.

In delivering optimal service to its customers, the bank has the obligation to ensure that responses to customer demands are right on time. This, to a large extent, helps to guarantee customer retention and secure word of mouth publicity which has proven to be the best form of advertisement, having the ability to increase customer loyalty by 16 to 24% according to the Wharton School of Business.

The impact of delays in service delivery goes beyond affecting public reputation but can also lead to loss of revenue, which was the case for Unity Bank. “Whenever there is downtime from our datacenter, there is always a major impact on the business group services running on the server. This directly impacts the delivery timelines of our services to our customers and invariably translates to a loss of revenue of over $10,000 per hour when the recovery process is not managed effectively.” said, Ugochukwu Aku, Head, IT Infrastructure, Unity Bank.

Although a lot of manual work was put into managing our applications at every event of downtimes, it wasn’t enough to meet the business objective.
In addition to this, the bank spent a lot of time and money on the procurement of additional hardware to meet the demands for hosting new products and services geared towards catering to the needs of its customers.

The problems encountered by Unity Bank pointed clearly to the need of hosting its core critical application on a cloud-based solution, one that Descasio had the requisite competency for providing.

Unity bank came to learn of this competency when Descasio approached them with an Application Modernization workshop which was set up in collaboration with Microsoft.

“During the online workshop, Descasio showcased the value of having a seamless solution that requires less human input and delivers in a timely fashion. Descasio also showed the flexibility and reliability of hosting our application on Microsoft Azure.”
“We reviewed Descasio’s proposition of migrating our application to Azure alongside other business continuity processes at the time and came to a conclusion that Azure presented more value.” Explained Ugochukwu.

The Result

Since the migration to Microsoft Azure App Services, Unity Bank has been able to meet several of its objectives. Primarily, they have been able to overcome the management burden that previously existed when the app was hosted in their on-premise infrastructure. This has translated to the provision of a more solidified service experience to customers and a huge reduction in losses as a result of downtimes.

Speaking on other benefits of Microsoft Azure app services to the financial institution, Ugochukwu said, “This solution really helped us in having successful app deployments. Unity Bank has also enjoyed easy scalability as they can now develop new applications and scale resources to meet the demands with ease and in no time. Ultimately the solution has helped us to improve our overall business performance at a reduced cost.

“Today, our IT team has more time to focus on other directly related bank projects as most of the previous issues we have had as regards applications sitting on physical infrastructures are now being taken care of.”

Commenting on the bank’s experience with Descasio, Ugochukwu said “Descasio was not picked based on preference or relationship, they were picked by the bank based on competency shown with the deployment of app services. We as an organization ensure to work with competent partners as this directly translates to the quality of service delivered to our client.”

“We have enjoyed great customer experience, an excellent display of product knowledge, and an utterly reliable service delivery from Descasio and will recommend both Descasio and Microsoft to all organizations looking to implement an effective, secure, and reliable IT solution as we have,” he added.

Hardware failures, user error, viruses, software issues and natural disasters. All of these can be deemed IT nightmares. All your business data, emails and important documents have been lost. What do you do?

Whether it’s caused by human error or other, incidents that lead to a loss of data can be detrimental to a business. Although we can’t foresee these things coming, we need to expect the best and prepare for the worst as data loss events are anything but uncommon. The importance of a disaster recovery plan cannot be overstated. Regardless of industry, when an unforeseen event takes place and brings day-to-day operations to a halt, your organization needs to recover as quickly as possible and continue to provide services to your clients.

When effectively implemented, it empowers companies to break the boundaries of work styles and get things done from anywhere, on any device, and at any time using secure tools that enhance the way things work, not complicate it.

What is a disaster recovery plan?

A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a procedure that protects and recovers a business’s IT infrastructure. As organizations rely more on technology and electronic data for their daily operations, the amount of data and information technology infrastructure lost to disasters is increasing. The disaster recovery plan focuses on the specified steps that a company is to take before, during, and after a disaster. The ‘disaster’ refers to any intentional, unintentional, man-made, or natural accident and breakage.

Benefits of a disaster recovery plan

Cost Savings
One of the most significant benefits of a DRP is the long-term cost savings. A successful DRP includes preventative measures to reduce the risk of man-made disasters, detective processes to spot unwanted activity, and corrective actions to quickly restore lost data and resume business as usual even after a disaster occurs.

Maximum Productivity
Executing a successful DRP is often dependent on having the right people in a position to lead during a disaster. With specific roles and responsibilities assigned in advance, you’ll be able to act quickly to increase effectiveness and productivity. Your employees will also feel a sense of security knowing leadership has everything under control.

Customer Loyalty
Your clients expect a lot from you, and in today’s world of competition, they’re not quick to forgive in the case of failure or downtime. If you’re unable to meet customer expectations, they can simply take their business to your competitor. A disaster recovery plan allows you to maintain your customer service quality, regardless if you’re faced with an unpredictable event.

Other key reasons why a business needs a detailed and tested disaster recovery plan include:
• To minimize interruptions to normal operations.
• To limit the extent of disruption and damage.
• To minimize the economic impact of the interruption.
• To establish alternative means of operation in advance.
• To train personnel with emergency procedures.
• To provide for smooth and rapid restoration of service.

Preparing for what can happen
Companies that don’t currently have a plan in place may recognize the importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan but struggle with getting started. Those who have not been affected by unforeseen events and costly unplanned downtime may even think that they are immune from disaster. However, it is better to be prepared since the cost of not having a plan in place can pose serious risks for an organization. With a disaster recovery plan in place, we can make sure that your business bounces back as quickly as ever when a disaster strikes and offer you peace of mind with regards to the recuperation of data in an unexpected event.

Final note
While there is no one size fits all plan for a disaster recovery plan. Our team can get you started with a comprehensive DRP. We’ll work with you to fully understand your needs and develop a unique plan that can keep your business running no matter what the future has planned for you. Contact us today to learn more.with our team.