The way that software systems affect every aspect of the day to day running of a business today is something that most people don’t take the time to consider.
From scheduling daily tasks to book keeping, maintaining communications and managing client interactions, the level of IT integration is deep and substantial in almost any kind of work you can think of.
This means that the risk of something going wrong and having an extremely damaging effect on the business is a very real possibility and one that should be addressed as a matter of importance.
When the worst happens
The reality is that the failure of a software system or essential application suite can cause short term disruption to day to day activities, but far worse than that is that it can, in some cases, lead to the loss or destruction of the systems themselves.
This doesn’t just mean that customer data and client contact details which have taken time and effort to build up can be lost but that the very basis of your IT arrangements can fail beyond repair.
Software goes far further than simply being the systems which allow simple business tasks to be dealt with each day, in many cases a bespoke or customised suite can be the basis for the entire functionality of the commercial operations of a business.
Escrow Safety
‘Escrow’ is a common term in the world of American finance which basically covers the idea whereby an independent third party acts as an intermediate between two others.
In terms of software escrow services, the concept revolves around data such as source codes, being held confidentially by such a third party until a previously agreed set of circumstances occurs at which point it is then released and shared under defined conditions.
In cases where a business uses a bespoke system the potential for the software designers to cease trading could be extremely problematic in a future scenario. This is exactly where an escrow agreement could guarantee that the source code could still be accessed if needed.
Providers
NCC Group Escrow provides in-house technical teams alongside their state of the art storage facilities for the archiving of the data and materials. The subsequent verification process that can make up part of an escrow agreement provides all the necessary scripts, instructions and files that would be required to rebuild or restructure an application. Therefore, an escrow service can be an essential ‘peace of mind’ policy against catastrophic systems failure.