Every year, disasters strike Non-Profits and Small Businesses all over the world. These disasters come in many forms, from natural (hurricanes, blizzards) to virtual (hackers, Crypto Locker) to unavoidable (human error, hardware failure). So what can you do to prepare your business for the inevitable? Be proactive. Create a disaster recovery and business continuity plan before it’s too late.
All companies regardless of size and location MUST have a Disaster Recovery plan. Technology and communications are critical in today’s business operations. Disasters can bring down much infrastructure: power, Internet, and communications. Make sure to follow these steps to in order to recover from a disaster:
STEP 1: Draw Up a Plan
The first step is to design a disaster recovery plan outlining what has to be done in the event of a disaster. For example, if the company’s website is down, can sales be taken from phones instead? Is there a backup system available that is able to recover business and customer data?
STEP 2: Cloud Backup
After drawing up a plan, the next step is to consider business data that may or may not be lost. If back-up systems remain intact, then mission critical data can easily be restored. An important tactic is to ensure that multiple physical servers are running in different locations to protect against any single point of failure. Using the Cloud as a backup is proving to be popular with companies of all sizes due to the virtual nature of its storage, as well as its high level of security, performance and cost savings. By storing backup data in the Cloud, businesses can reduce the time needed to recover from a disaster thanks to the ‘access anywhere’ nature of the service.
STEP 3: Cloud Virtualization
If a company needs to be back up and running immediately, then processes such as Cloud virtualization can help support this. Virtualization mirrors a company’s primary systems without duplicating the hardware. This allows a business to resurrect their services in a flash. Virtualization is extremely feasible for companies that run in real-time, online environments.
A difficult but wholly necessary aspect of a business, disaster recovery is a procedure that no company wishes to undertake. However, due to the severity of what can happen when a disaster strikes, it’s integral that businesses plan ahead in order to be prepared for when the worst happens. With the right tools and a lot of planning, disaster recovery can be a quick, easy way to bring a business back from the brink.
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