A data breach can be devastating for a business. If you experience it, you might despair of ever getting back to where you were before it happened. How resilient is your business? How can you protect yourself going forward? The key is to be aware of the data you need to keep functioning and an appreciation of how downtime can affect your viability.
Everyone Needs a Business Continuity Plan
A business continuity plan will make sure that you’re prepared to deal with IT disasters and the downtime that ensues. It’s not just about having effective cybersecurity, though that is essential. Your business continuity measures should deal with effective management of the fallout from a data breach that is caused by scenarios other than a cyberattack. Other scenarios you need to consider include physical damage to your infrastructure, caused by user error or natural disasters. Backing up your data is essential in any business continuity strategy.
Disaster Recovery is Only One Aspect of Business Continuity
It’s important to realize that disaster recovery is not the same as business continuity. Ensuring continuity goes far beyond data recovery alone. The downtime caused by data loss can ripple outwards, affecting many aspects of an organization’s operations. You’ll be playing catch-up with administration, client liaison, staff management and more. You also need contingency plans to deal with other potential after-effects of data loss.
Data Backup is a First Step
Data loss means downtime. Downtime means disruption. The extent to which this is crippling varies from business to business, but for some it can be a threat to their continued existence. Even short periods of downtime are a pain, so minimizing the threat is crucial. Business owners need to assess the likely impact on operations and scale their continuity plan accordingly.
Key Considerations
Effective data backup includes storing duplicates of your files somewhere safe – on-site but also in a different physical location or in the cloud, for example. But it doesn’t stop there. You need to be able to access your data quickly and easily when necessary. Don’t assume that everything is working well. You also need to test your data recovery plan regularly to make sure there are no glitches or unexpected obstacles to data retrieval.
We can’t emphasise the importance of preparation enough. Don’t leave anything to chance if you want to be sure that your business can survive a data loss incident, of any kind. You can’t lose by seeking professional advice to make certain that you’ve covered all the bases.
Find a Quality BDR Solution
You may be able to devise your own backup and disaster recovery plan but can you be sure it’s fit for purpose? Quikteks can assess your existing arrangements, or provide a high-quality BDR for your business. It includes use of a temporary server, so that you can restore data quickly while you get your IT system back on track. Another advantage of our BDR solution is that it’s much faster to restore a system in this way, as opposed to traditional methods. In disaster recovery, speed is essential for business continuity.
Be proactive. For more information on a BDR system tailored to your needs, call Quikteks today at 973882-4644.