How would your business manage in the face of a disaster? It could be a natural disaster, a physical disaster or a technology-related crash. The answer is that it all depends on how well you’re prepared for the consequences of a disaster scenario. Let’s look at how you can best insulate yourself, so you can get back up and running as quickly as possible.
Disaster Recovery Needs to be Planned For
What’s your attitude to the possibility of a disaster interrupting your business operations? One approach is to be reactive. The reasoning is that you can’t prevent disasters happening, so there’s not much point in worrying too much about it until it actually does. The proactive approach is the opposite. Sure, you might not be able to avoid a catastrophe, but there’s a lot you can do to be prepared, so that the damage can be mitigated. Protecting against data loss is one thing that all business should attend to, for example. There are clear advantages to a proactive approach, and having a considered plan for disaster recovery. Let’s run through some different scenarios.
Natural Disasters
This is what most people think about when they hear the word ‘disaster’. It would include things like floods, fires, hurricanes, blizzards and similar. You could also add in ‘pandemics’. A natural disaster can of course vary in its impact, with effects ranging from serious damage to near-devastation, but even a lesser disaster can seriously impact your business continuity, or even the continued existence of your business.
Physical Disasters
By physical disasters we mean anything to do with your organization’s physical infrastructure, including your premises, utilities and security. Think of burst pipes and power failures as some of the possibilities. Unless it’s a catastrophe like your building collapsing, these crisis situations may not seem too worrying, but they will almost certainly lead to downtime, and downtime means revenue losses. A contingency plan can help you weather the worst of it.
Technology Disasters
If your technology fails, you could find yourself in deep water. Typical issues leading to technology disasters are the failure of systems components and breaches of cybersecurity. Hardware always has a finite lifespan and will eventually fail as a result of age. Good maintenance can prolong the life of your hardware, but lack of it just hastens its end. The good news is that there are various things you can do to guard against technology disasters, like cybersecurity breaches and data loss.
Create Your Disaster Recovery Plan ASAP
A disaster recovery plan is all about getting back to normal (or at least a functional state) as fast as you can. To do this, you need to have a detailed strategy, and a clear set of priorities. Your plan will be your roadmap for getting each area of your business up and running again. Some things will be essential to attend to, no matter what kind of disaster you’re working to survive. One fundamental is making sure that you have your data backed up, onsite and offsite. Protecting against data loss isn’t hard to organize, and will be a potential lifeline if a catastrophe hits your technology or your premises.
Quikteks can advise you on a disaster recovery plan that’s tailored to your business needs. We can also test it regularly over time, so you can be confident you have a safety net in place. For more information, call us at (973) 882-4644.