Privacy & Legal Plan B Disaster Recovery Service Service Level Agreement
What is the Plan B Disaster Recovery service?
The Plan B Disaster Recovery Service (the ‘Service’) provides customers, who have suffered the loss or failure of a protected server, with a near instant replacement service through the provision of an identical, online virtual server. We do this by taking a daily snapshot image of your server(s), which is tested and then held ready for invocation in a secure data centre.
When required, we can deliver your systems, applications and data back to you as a service running on our rescue platform - in around 30 minutes and backed by a Recovery Time guarantee. [Backup Direct guarantees that your virtual system will be available within a maximum of twice your defined Recovery Time and with a minimum of 20 minutes.]
We use the latest virtualisation technology so you get a fast, reliable, scalable and secure disaster recovery service.
What is an SLA and what does it mean to you ?
An SLA is a legally binding commitment to achieve a specific level of service. If this target is not achieved, the service provider will commit to compensating the customer based on previously established penalties. Consequently, a vendor willing to commit to an SLA is confident in the ability of the service and therefore creates customer reassurance.
Backup Direct views an SLA as a two-way agreement in which you the Customer also acknowledge your responsibilities to ensure the smooth operation of the supplied Service.
Why are SLAs Important ?
In the vitally important area of disaster recovery, data protection and backup, it is important that business users have a robust, cost-effective and above all, consistent level of service and performance.
What is behind Backup Direct’s SLA ?
Backup Direct has a robust and resilient technology infrastructure protecting its customer’s data. The software manufacturer behind the disaster recovery service, Plan B Disaster Recovery, maintains an ISO27001 accredited data centre in the South East region of the UK. Data is transmitted and stored in a fully-encrypted format using 256-bit AES encryption technology, compliant with FIPS140-2 guidelines. Stringent controls are in place to ensure only nominated persons are able to invoke the disaster recovery service.
Our Service Team operates to ITIL v3 guidelines for managed IT services (http://www.itil-officialsite.com/home/home.asp)
What SLA does Backup Direct Offer ?
Backup Direct is committed to providing exceptional customer service at every opportunity and our key customer satisfaction measure is Net Promoter Score (www.netpromoter.com). Some aspects of the supplied service such as a high level of system availability should be taken as read. Our Service Team will endeavour to provide you with that ‘extra mile’ of service that, whilst not contractual, is what we believe you deserve.
The following points should be read in conjunction with our published Terms and Conditions (see www.backupdirect.net/legal for the latest version) together with your specific contractual arrangements resulting from the service provisioning. This SLA may also be varied from time to time.
If you have any comments or observations about our performance and the service we provide you should contact our Operations Director, Dave Wigley, on 0800 0789 438 or email david.wigley@backupdirect.net
FAQs & Basic Support
You will find good information at the website but you can and should contact us directly if you have any doubt about your service and its operation.
Customer Support Hours
support@backupdirect.net or 0800 0789 438
Your service includes free, unlimited telephone support on 0800 0789 438 or you may email requests for service/support to support@backupdirect.net
Core Customer Support Hours (a Core Day) are from 8:00am to 10:00pm seven days per week including Bank holidays.
Emergency support is available 24x7 for issues classified as Critical. Visit http://www.backupdirect.net/emergency for contact details outside Core Hours
We endeavour to answer all incoming phone calls immediately. In the event that all the Service Team members are busy we will ask you to leave a message outlining your issue.
Emergency Service Invocation - Phone 08445 499 000
In the event of an emergency invocation, you should call the number opposite. You will need to be a nominated invocation authority and security checks will be employed.
Response Times
Recovery Time is defined as “The time taken to provide access to fully operational systems as defined in your Technical Questionnaire using the ‘Last Known Good’ data snapshot”.
Recovery of systems varies from customer to customer depending on their complexity and size. During the Service installation, a test invocation will be conducted to measure the time taken from starting invocation to providing user log-on credentials. This will be the Customer’s Recovery Time. Backup Direct will guarantee service availability following invocation (subject to the stated Conditions) within a period that is twice the Customer’s Recovery Time.
Conditions:
The Service has been set-up, tested by the Customer and accepted as working.
Your rescue image has passed all testing.
Recovery time will be a minimum of 20 minutes.
For general service issues, we will discuss any reported issue with you and assess its criticality. We define the following levels :
Standard Issues - an event that does not interfere with data protection such as a request for a repeat invoice or assistance with reviewing your systems.
High Priority Issues - an event that results in an interruption to data protection such as a failed snapshot.
Critical Issues - typically full disaster recovery scenario where an entire system has been lost and urgent recovery is required – you must make us aware of any such critical situation by phone on the emergency invocation number to avoid delays.
| Issue Level | Acknowledgement Time | Initial Response Time | Target Resolution Time |
| Standard | Within 24 hours | Within 2 days | Issue dependent |
| High Priority | Within 2 Core hours | 4 Core hours | 2 days |
| Critical | N/A | By Phone | Continuous Support |
The final designation of your Issue is determined by Backup Direct. You must use the above contact details to register your issue and use the phone service for Critical Issues.
Your Responsibilities
To provide a stable computer environment on which the service is installed and which meets the system operating requirements including sufficient internet bandwidth and latency performance for reliable communications.
At the time of installation, you should check your computer specification against the service minimum requirements.
You will be provided with an appliance which once configured and tested must remain operational on your local network. You will be liable for any damage to this appliance.
You must contact Backup Direct in the event of a need to make significant changes to that environment (e.g. Operating System changes or Service Packs, new anti-virus services, the use of other backup products or services) or the addition of new or changed applications that you wish to include in the Service.
If you ask us to work directly with your designated IT Partner we will do so. However, ultimate responsibility for your components of this agreement remain with you, the customer. Backup Direct will not be responsible for slow or inappropriate responses from your IT Partner. You are responsible for the security aspects of providing any passwords or confidential information to your IT Partner and we may contact you to confirm their right to access certain information. You must inform us if your IT Partner changes and you must ensure that contact information is updated in our systems.
To provide and maintain main contact information to Backup Direct so that we can contact you in the event of an issue or for security validation – this is particularly important for your nominated invocation authorities.
To provide relevant requested information to support the investigation and resolution of any identified issues with the service. This will include system log files and other important information regarding your computer infrastructure.
To ensure your use of the Service does not affect the operation of the overall Plan B Recovery platform. In the event that your usage is adversely affecting the overall platform, it may be suspended or terminated without liability to Backup Direct upon prior written notice (or immediately without notice in the event of a technical emergency).
You will notify us of your desire to cancel the Service, giving the appropriate notice, as described in our Terms and Conditions.
Please refer to our full Terms and Conditions at www.backupdirect.net/legal and your specific Service Agreement for a complete breakdown of both your and our contractual responsibilities.
Our Responsibilities
To provide you with enterprise-class protection technology and the highest level of customer service as described in this SLA and your contract with us.
We will contact you once the service is installed and check that you are happy with the service and all is working well including a test invocation and the confirmation of your guaranteed Recovery Time.
In the event of technical matters, we will endeavour to provide you with one technical contact to address your issue. Where necessary we will escalate your issue to other technical specialists.
We will assign your business to a dedicated Account Manager with whom you can discuss any aspects of the service and your requirements.
We will prioritise and endeavour to resolve any issues you raise with the Service within our target resolution times wherever possible. Please recognise that we have to prioritise all customer issues in order to address the most critical problems first.
We will provide free of charge updates to the service at regular intervals and inform you of requirements for upgrades.
We will maintain your data in a secure manner and will not provide access to your data without appropriate security checks being completed. If we are not convinced of a caller’s right to access your account we will seek further clarification from a senior representative from your company.
We will contact you at least once a year to seek your customer Net Promoter (satisfaction) Score and any feedback you may have. We will act on your feedback.
Should you choose to leave Backup Direct we will make your departure as smooth as possible and continue to support you until the end of the contracted term and assist where possible with account closure and data transfer.
Financial Claims
If the service is not available within twice the customer’s confirmed Recovery Time, Backup Direct will pay the customer all invocation fees and the previous 12 months service charges for the servers for which recovery is not achieved within the guaranteed Recovery Time.
If you wish to make a claim for non-conformance against this SLA you should do so in writing to support@backupdirect.net citing your reasons in full within 10 days of the failure to meet your agreed Recovery Time following a live invocation.
Issues associated with the Service but outside the control of Backup Direct (such as the non-availability of the internet) will extend the Recovery Time accordingly.
You are not entitled to a credit if you are in breach of our contractual agreement.
Our Directors will review any incident you raise.
Plan B Disaster Recovery Service - Service Level Agreement (SLA) Ver 1.0
This Service Level Agreement is available to download as a PDF (491kb) by clicking here.
