There are a lot of factors that go into making a successful business, but the number-one factor is having the ability to remain open and operational despite any disruptions. Keeping your business operational so that you can serve your customers – providing that business continuity – would be simple if not for the what-ifs. And it’s because of the what-ifs that the Boy Scout’s motto, Be Prepared, will serve you well.
- What if there is an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or other natural disaster that either destroys your building or makes it impossible for you to work from that location?
- What if a fire consumes your building, or a flood or water leak makes it unusable for a time?
- What if a vandal breaks into your building and destroys your equipment?
- What if, despite your best efforts to prevent such a scenario, an employee opens an unknown email attachment and delivers a virus to your entire network?
Can You Navigate Potential Disruptions?
Your customers can’t afford to care about those catastrophes that may affect your business; if they can’t still be served, they are likely to find somewhere else to go. And being prepared doesn’t just mean readying your business for the big disasters; you may experience the minor inconvenience of a single-day power outage that occurs when a road worker accidentally cuts through a buried utility line. For your organization to succeed despite the “what-ifs,” you need to have a business continuity plan.
- If your building is destroyed or inaccessible, do you have a location from which you can work and handle customer needs?
- If your equipment is damaged or infected with a virus, do you have your information backed up offsite that you can access from anywhere?
- If your network goes down, can your employees continue working by accessing your offsite backup?
- If the phone lines go down, do you have a plan in place to still receive calls from customers?
Disaster Recovery: Rebuilding After a Crisis
Your business continuity plan is designed to keep you operational in the moments during and after an unplanned disruption has occurred. It may include protocols, such as everyone works from home, or key personnel meet at an alternate worksite to keep the business operational during a disruption. But that can only work if a part of your business continuity plan includes disaster recovery.
Disaster recovery is the rebuilding of your network, system, data, and infrastructure after the disruption is over – and it ensures that you have the data you need to remain operational in the short term. Disaster recovery planning should include:
- Automated backups of critical files to an offsite location
- Access to offsite information from any location
- The ability to work from virtual machines on an alternate server
- File- and image-based backups
- System monitoring
- A team of expert engineers at your disposal to help you recover when the worst happens
Be Prepared
Don’t wait for a catastrophic event to remind you of the importance of being able to continue serving your customers. Having a plan for remaining operational, that includes backing up your data and protecting your files, is critical to plan for before disruptions occur. By the time disaster strikes, it will be too late. Ask thinkCSC to help you develop a disaster recovery plan that keeps your business running in the most difficult situations. Contact us to learn how.
