National furniture retailer DFS has enlisted the help of Yorkshire-based Onyx Group for its IT and workplace continuity. DFS employ 250 people in Doncaster to manage the company’s accounts, HR, IT, payroll and marketing departments. The support will enable the retailer to maintain office operations in the event of an emergency at its existing facilities.

Onyx Group’s South Yorkshire workplace recovery and datacentre is just a short distance away from the DFS head office. “If a situation occurred where we couldn’t access our head office, key personnel would be automatically re-located to the Onyx Group site in Rotherham,” said Dean Darby, head of IT at DFS. “They will be able to use the desks there as if they were sat in their own office with full access to our existing software systems and telephones lines.

“This will allow them to continue their jobs as normal, but just in a new location. It’s extremely important to have the Onyx facility close-by as it will be just as easy for staff to get there as it is to our head office.”

“It is important that a strong head office facility is up and running as quickly as possible in case of an emergency in order to support the store network around the country. The Onyx centre enables us to do this. We take great pride in our customer service levels and to have an effective contingency plan for our employees is vital to maintaining those high standards.”

Onyx Group’s Rotherham facility offers businesses access to a 250-seat workplace recovery centre, alongside a 320-rack datacentre. From this site Onyx can deliver cloud hosting and backup, colocation, IT support and security.

Neil Stephenson, CEO of Onyx Group said: “We are pleased to support such a national brand as DFS and work with them on their disaster recovery procedures.

“Our state-of-the-art facility is ideally located between Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham to offer close-by assistance to businesses across Yorkshire whenever they need us. We are well connected with transport infrastructure, as well as being accessible during bad weather and not in an area liable to flooding.

“These reassurances are vital and provide companies with the knowledge they can continue operating not matter what happens to their facilities. Also, Onyx has the means through its extensive on-site datacentre to replicate customers’ existing IT infrastructure to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible.”

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