As Standby celebrates its 20th year of operation I felt it was a good time to reflect a little on our company history. Standby was established in 1996 in response to an approach from IBM New Zealand to partner with them and establish a Business Continuity Recovery Service (BCRS) centre in the South Island of New Zealand. Following a successful first project working for Wickliffe Press, IBM and Standby established a very successful long term partnership, working closely together to provide BCRS services and as well as Business Continuity Consultancy service throughout New Zealand and later in Australia and Fiji for clients such as New Zealand Dairy Foods Takanini, Auckland; Honda New Zealand; Schering-Plough Animal Health and Sealord one of New Zealand and Australia’s largest seafood companies.

Alongside the work completed in conjunction IBM, Standby, also carried out numerous consultancy projects under its own company name. Some of the most memorable of these projects have been Mainland Products and Tower Australia & N.Z.; Waikato District Health Board and Massey University.

In 2007 Standby were proud to be approached by a Fortune 100 company based in the Kingdom of Bahrain to enhance and implement their IT Disaster Recovery solutions for the Middle East. Developing this project into a long term relationship allowed standby to lay foundations in Bahrain and establish a permanent office for its Middle East activities. From our Bahrain base, Standby has carried out many interesting new projects all over the GCC, in numerous different industry sectors such as banking and finance, insurance, construction, manufacturing and also education.

It was not long until Standby were also recruited to carry out Data Centre builds as well as IT consultancy, which due to my background in the IT sector and previously having built and managed data Centres for over 20 years it’s always one of my favourite areas of what we do. I am proud to say Standby has now successfully carried out over 10 data centre builds and 40 risk assessments throughout New Zealand and the GCC.

Twenty years is a significant time for any company to be in operation. During this 20 years Standby has built up a wide and extensive knowledge within the Business Continuity Management sector and put together an excellent team with an extensive knowledge of different industry sectors as well as in-depth expertise in Business Continuity Project Management and data center builds. Without the professionalism and high standards of our great staff, Standby would not have been able to develop its highly regarded knowledge and experience, or its enviable client base. They have taken on board my personal approach, where we deliver excellent bespoke reports, plans or data centers that meet the clients’ requirements.

So as we move past our 20 years of operation I wish to thank our clients, supporting organizations and our Standby personnel and contractors who all work so hard to deliver above and beyond what is expected of them.

Sam Mulholland - Founder and Managing Director.