Epic publicity fail by Orcon! However...

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Epic publicity fail by Orcon! However...

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exportgoldman

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#622273 9-May-2012 15:11

From the Article ""But I had no opportunity to back it up," she said."

I think the point of backups, is you back your data up before you need to restore it. Sounds like she had 4 years to back it up..

Sigh. If only I could claim this was a uncommon experience with small companies.

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

exportgoldman

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#622275 9-May-2012 15:13

mattwnz:
I did recently hear somewhere in the NZ media, perhaps radio NZ, that 2/3s of all businesses in NZ still don't have a website. SO I suspect that many of those also don't have a domain, and just use their ISPs one. You see so many plumbers and builders van, that just have a xtra.co.nz email address on the side, and I cringe everytime I see that.

Actually I would say that 2/3's of companies have a domain name, and use it for e-mail but have not brought a web site.

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

exportgoldman

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#622280 9-May-2012 15:19

xpd: Yes, fault on both sides....Im surprised that Orcon didnt have a system in place that just stopped them from getting emails until the mailbox had been cleared... allow 10% over what the customer is allowed then contact them saying so... then just bounce emails back with "Mailbox full" routine such as Hotmail etc do.

But in being an IT manager, Rutherford should have been well (and was by her own words) aware of what was going on....

I think this is the only way Orcon could be faulted. It would have been more elegant for Orcon to bounce new e-mail until the client got under their quota instead of waiting 4 years then randomly deleting e-mails.

Tyler - Parnell Geek - iPhone 3G - Lenovo X301 - Kaseya - Great Western Steak House, these are some of my favourite things.

plas

455 posts

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#622290 9-May-2012 15:39

Think she will be getting that exit interview shortly, but it wont be with Orcon.

mattwnz

20164 posts

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#622298 9-May-2012 15:56

plas: Think she will be getting that exit interview shortly, but it wont be with Orcon.

What is an 'exit' interview anyway.

KevinL

656 posts

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#622304 9-May-2012 16:01

plas: Think she will be getting that exit interview shortly, but it wont be with Orcon.

I have a funny feeling that daddy owns the company, so she ought to be OK...

snnet

1410 posts

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#622388 9-May-2012 17:49

A comincal article. Faults on both sides. Orcon should have probably called and said "hey, your mailbox is full, you need to clear it out" like most ISPs seem to (I experienced that with Maxnet back in the 90's)

What I find the most amusing is that it's so stereotypical of those in the IT industry - I know I'll probably get flamed- but I know SO MANY people in IT that simply don't back up any data- an extended family member designed his home with CAD software and then suddenly it was just *gone* - I guess there are those in the industry who fix problems and there are those that just create them!

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wasabi2k

2096 posts

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#623563 11-May-2012 14:48

It's really not that hard to see why.

Backups cost money - done well, a lot of money.
You don't need a backup everyday to do your job
Even when they are working, they are usually invisible. For most small businesses they see the extra cost as unecessary.

In short - until something breaks and you NEED them, they are totally invisible and viewed as little more than a cost. Someone who has been burnt will usually learn their lesson, but not always.

Let's use the dentist as an analogy. How many people regularly visit their dentist for checkups/cleaning? How many only go when they are in excruciating pain and need thousands of dollars of work (by which time it is too late to prevent it).

jaymz

1133 posts

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#623569 11-May-2012 15:13

wasabi2k: It's really not that hard to see why.

Backups cost money - done well, a lot of money.
You don't need a backup everyday to do your job
Even when they are working, they are usually invisible. For most small businesses they see the extra cost as unecessary.

In short - until something breaks and you NEED them, they are totally invisible and viewed as little more than a cost. Someone who has been burnt will usually learn their lesson, but not always.

Let's use the dentist as an analogy. How many people regularly visit their dentist for checkups/cleaning? How many only go when they are in excruciating pain and need thousands of dollars of work (by which time it is too late to prevent it).

She said herself "I take full responsibility" so I doubt it was a issue with cost.

Even then, it comes down to how valuable your data is. It can cost some serious coin to recover data, are you willing to spend that? Or would you rather purchase a reliable backup solution.

I disagree with your statement "You don't need a backup everyday to do your job" In some cases that may be true, but for EVERY small business that i know of, if you are creating data daily then you NEED to backup daily.

You cannot predict when a failure will occur, therefore you cannot plan acordingly.

Again, it comes down to how valuable your data is. Can your business afford to get your staff to re-enter the previous days worth of data into the system again?

Any self respecting IT person should be doing their best to inform any client or customer of the risks of not having a reliable backup solution. They may see it as a cost, but it is your job to make them aware of the risks.

Talkiet

4793 posts

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#623570 11-May-2012 15:16

wasabi2k: It's really not that hard to see why.

Backups cost money - done well, a lot of money.
You don't need a backup everyday to do your job
Even when they are working, they are usually invisible. For most small businesses they see the extra cost as unecessary.

In short - until something breaks and you NEED them, they are totally invisible and viewed as little more than a cost. Someone who has been burnt will usually learn their lesson, but not always.

Let's use the dentist as an analogy. How many people regularly visit their dentist for checkups/cleaning? How many only go when they are in excruciating pain and need thousands of dollars of work (by which time it is too late to prevent it).

Chuckle, let's use actual real world insurance as an analogy instead... In fact, it's so obvious, I'll leave the explanation there :-)

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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