Mobile Communications Unit (MCU)

Introduction

What is an MCU?

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Is the MCU cost effective?
• I have continuity cover. Why do I need an MCU?
• Will it work when I need it?
• Will my staff cope with it?

When disaster strikes... how long does it take you to get your communications back?

Not as long as you may think!

Catastrophic events happen all the time. It is only a matter of when one will affect you and your organisation, rather than if. Great emphasis is being placed on operational continuity in organisations, though dependence on the communications infrastructure is often overlooked until it is too late.

Statistics show effective communications are critical to the survival of any business in a crisis. If you are unable to communicate for several days following an unforeseen incident, your organisation is unlikely to exist in little more than a year.

Doing nothing is obviously not an option. Most current continuity offerings involve subscription to a Disaster Recovery Service Provider. However, these have significant drawbacks, such as high cost, inappropriate DR locations for you or your staff, are locked into a specific vendor you do not use, etc. All these 'caveats' can throw your staff into confusion in a crisis, at precisely the time you need them to be be most 'on the ball'.

When faced with a crisis, the communications facilities available to you need to:

• be familiar (e.g. same vendor/manufacturer as you already use)
• be located somewhere that is convenient to you, your staff and your organisation
• support your operational methods and systems the same as they did the day before the incident.

At Inovaplus, we considered these issues and trialled our solutions in the Exhibition Sector (which is like having a disaster every day, but you know when it's coming) and in Health & Safety critical applications at temporary locations, such as construction sites and open-air events supporting Emergency Service teams. The result is our Mobile Communications Unit concept and associated technologies.

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