Disaster Recovery Preparation

The information on your computers is essential to your ability to run your business. It doesn’t matter what kind if industry you’re in—health care, retail, finance, or consulting—in today’s business climate, a large percentage of your company’s success depends on having reliable technology.

A disaster recovery plan is the safety net you have in place for when something happens to threaten that technology. Threats come in many different forms these days—it can mean a physical catastrophe (like a fire or earthquake), it can mean a malicious outside source (in the form of a virus or hack), or it can even mean a technology glitch (when files aren’t saved or stored properly and get lost). Any and all of these things can have a huge impact on your bottom line, which is why it’s important to start disaster recovery preparation long before it actually happens.

The Cost of Preparation

Preparing for every kind of natural disaster or malicious software out there is an expensive undertaking. Not only is it impossible to predict the future to know how to best protect your business, but viruses and online threats literally change daily. You could easily spend the bulk of your disaster recovery budget on scenarios that never happen.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to coming up with dozens of emergency plans and keeping them on standby. With the right IT service provider, you can create a universal disaster recovery plan that provides several safety nets to cover a range of threats.

Disaster Recovery Plans to Consider

• Cloud Storage: One of the first steps in any good disaster recovery plan is to have your information backed up and stored securely offsite. If anything should happen to your office space or hardware, it’s important to know that your files are still accessible. Cloud storage exists to provide just that. Not only will you still have copies of all your company information, but your employees will be able to access it from whatever new location you have set up.

• Regular Data Backup: The best data recovery plans in the world won’t work unless you make it a habit to regularly back up your data and implement company-wide best practices. Working with an IT consultant can help you train your employees to use good data storage habits right from the start.

• Business Continuity: An estimated 75 percent of businesses fail within the first six months following a major disaster. Even with insurance coverage, it can be hard to keep money coming in while you get your systems back up and running again. A business continuity plan takes into account how to minimize your downtime and find ways to keep working.

• Mobilize Your Workforce: While your physical office or retail is an important part of your company, it doesn’t have to be your entire company. These days, people can work on-the-go from mobile devices, sales can be made online instead of at a brick-and-mortar store, and you can set up a virtual office almost anywhere. If you create an infrastructure where your employees don’t have to always be in the office to do their jobs, you never have to fear a complete stop to your business.

The best disaster recovery plans also take prevention into account. While no one can prevent a natural disaster from happening, it is possible to reduce the amount of human error and problems with your current infrastructure. Nexus IT will show you how.