Is Nokia's plan to enter the PC market a good idea? It seems to me to be a bit of a knee jerk reaction to other traditional PC manufacturers bullying into their space.

Regardless as to what their real motives are, I'm curious to see how it will be received. There are plenty of previous failed diversification strategies out there.

During my time at university I came across a business theory that has remained firmly lodged within my inner consciousness. It has stayed with me, mainly because of its nice analogy.

The concept is called the ‘Red Queen Effect’, named so after the Lewis Carroll book ‘Alice Through the Looking-Glass’. In the book, the Red Queen is seen running extremely fast and yet always staying in the same place.

“It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”…

It's easy to mock those not able to cope with a few centimetres of snow. My sympathies do go out to those who have really suffered.

Here, we are feeling a little smug given how well Backup Direct has coped during the recent flurries. We'd like to think it is all been the result of good planning - and it largely is - but it also takes the right people with the right attitude to keep going.

The key to it working well is having IT systems designed for resilience, largely outsourced to specialists. I guess you could say we eat our own dog food. I thought I'd outline some the key components we use…