Keith Shirley

Strangely enough if there was one thing I really remember from University – it was a discussion on statistics. It was part of the final year at Brunel and it was basically just a preparation seminar for the final year projects. One of the lecturers was making a big deal about always questioning quoted statistics unless we can be sure of the environment in which they were taken and the numbers involved. As a sceptical student this struck a chord with me and it’s amazing how often nowadays that I read or hear something that sets alarm bells ringing. Things like 100% increase in sales (i.e We’ve increased from 1 sale to 2), scientifically proven (by which definition) and “statistics prove/show” are all things that make me sit up and want to pick the comment to pieces. Unfortunately that can be really annoying for others so I try to keep it under control.

It’s with great interest then that I watch out for quoted numbers when it comes to online backups. As well as doing consultancy work and training I’m involved with Shercom who offer managed backup services. I’m wary of quoting disaster numbers to customers – I want people to realise the value of their data and to appreciate the value of the service rather than feel that they have been scared into purchasing something.

What brought this up? I was catching up on some news on ENN when I came across the following text – “cited research which has shown that 77 percent of firms were unable to retrieve all of their data when using traditional backup methods such as tapes. She added that 50 percent of firms that suffer a data loss disaster end up going out of business.” Scientific studies (i.e. my personal opinion) have shown that the first figure might even be a bit small. It really depends on the situation. 50% of firms that suffer a data loss disaster going out of business????  I hear alarm bells. There are a lot of questions – what constitutes a disaster, was that the only reason etc?

Don’t misunderstand me – even a small loss of data can have disproportionate consequences for a business. The people I’ve helped through such situations (before they signed up with me or Shercom I hasten to add) have certainly had to do a lot of cursing, a lot of apologising to customers and work a lot of additional hours. None of them have gone out of business. I compare it to a fire. A fire “could” destroy a business – it depends on the scale and how much advance planning a company has done. If you lose all your data – then yes depending on the reliance on that data – you are in really big trouble.

The moral of the story? Be sceptical of any statistics you have not invented yourself. Do analyse your backups and see if a managed backup is right for you. Do take the opportunity to amalyse your other business processes – disaster planning is about much much more than just your IT systems.

I’ve had the N95 for a while now. Do I still love it? Yes….although I might be moving towards really like rather than love.

I still find the speed of entering text annoying – although I’m getting faster and the blister on my thumb is recovering. The battery life does not really bother me yet as I’m generally not far from the charger. The charger itself is nice and small and just works. Motorola had a really bad connector that often meant the connection was unstable. When you’re trying to sleep in a hotel room after working for 16 hours the last thing you want is the phone to keep beeping at random times during the night.

Bit by bit I find the software I’m using has settled down:

- I still use the internal mail program. I’m happy enough with it but I will be looking for a replacement at some stage. I’d like the text to be smaller and fit more onscreen.

- Gmail – I use gmail but it does not show graphics – which I do need. I’ll be on the lookout for an alternative soon.

- Syncing to my PC – It just works. What a relief. I was so fed up with the Motorola – especially after I moved to Vista and they seemed to no longer be interested in me – not what I want after getting an expensive phone.

- Media Player – I’ve actually become a big fan of podcasts. There are a lot of useful sites providing info and it’s nice to be able to use the time when I’m stuck somewhere.

There are more but again I’ve used up my time……

For those of you that were wondering where I had disappeared to the last 8 days – I was taking part in an NLP training course in Carlow. I’d like to be able to say that taking part in a training is less work than providing one but this course certainly made me work and think a lot. The trainer – Soonduk Park Mooney  – really made sure we had lots to keep us busy and provided a very entertaining and instructive course. I didn’t get a wink of sleep the whole time.

Those of you that know me personally might be surprised that I’m taking part in a course that would “traditionally” have been seen as a  psychotherapy issue. While my initial background is in technology and management – I am always interested in learning something new. On the other hand I’m very very sceptical when it comes to anything where there is the slighest possibility of having to believe before things will work. I’m glad to say however that this was not the case here. Each step of the way we did some solid foundation work and then worked through some practical issues. I was given every opportunity to play the sceptic but had all my issues dealt with. 

I was initially encouraged to do the course by my wife (AHA!! – I hear you say) but it was not until I met the trainer personally a few months ago that I decided to do it. A week is eternity in my job and I have very high (possibly unfair) expectations from a course that expects me to be gone for so long. As the trainer is from Korea there was naturally an additional worry that communication would be an issue  – not a good thing when the course has a lot of issues with linguistics. I needn’t have worried – while there is an accent – the trainer had no issues and in fact her choice of vocabularly impressed me. 

The course is giving me a lot of insight into how I and other people think. Time will tell how useful it is for my work but I have no doubt that there are numerous issues I will be revisiting again and again.

There are some clips available on You Tube which were done by one of the participants.

Part 1:

Part 2: