Have you ever been in the situation not able to shower for a few days?

The availability of water is normal to most of us. So it is with electricity. As also with gas that you need for cooking or to heat your house. It is also very useful if you live in Russia at the moment.

Are you grateful to your utility company? With the near precision of the sun rising every day, they provide you each day that what you need, and we just take this for granted.

A different step, but not far away are other infrastructural supplies; the (rail) road-system and other transporting infrastructure.

“Water” leaves you now choice. Electricity and gas are substitutable up to a certain level. The transportation choices in turn are already more than two; you can take the car, bus, train, etc. Although distance influences the set of possible choices.

If your business offers a Mobile Phone representation you are one of the few. Internet is more and more common and most of the companies have at least a virtual shop-window. Accessibility by phone is nearly as common as tapping water, followed by faxed (we have said goodbye to the telex) and a postal address is a prerequisite if you want to start any business.

Different companies will opt for different communication infrastructure like the one sketched above. You could focus fully on the Internet, or you company could have the characteristics of a call center. But whatever you choose, you expect the communication the be there when you need it. Which is always.

Infrastructure has its own requirements. They are not functional, but generic. If you are completely dependent of Internet than these requirements can vary in the areas of, for example:

    * availability (uptime),
    * continuity (what if there is no backup and the supplier is overwhelmed by a fire incident),
    * scalability (if your site gains popularity you want to continue the business without having to reinvest first),
    * security (you do not want others to access your client data),
    * etc…

The point of this all is this. Although it is the fundament of your business, it is not satisfying when it is responding to the mentioned requirements. In fact, if it is not than it can be extremely dis-satisfying. Like a real disaster. The ones many people over the world have experienced. Unfortunately.

Not few of those infrastructural disasters could have been prevented, if people would be more aware of the risks. It is difficult to define the required level of safety, the level of availability and scalability. Because it is not directly visible.

Until that very specific moment. And than we remember.

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days. You can apply for a free demo account.

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