Whether you are hit with a natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy or an infrastructure failure like a downed server, is your company prepared to continue its business operations? Do you have a Disaster Recovery Plan in place to limit the disruption and to ensure the continuation of your business functions?
What is Disaster Recovery?
Disaster Recovery refers to the process a business uses to restore access to the IT infrastructure needed to resume the performance of critical business functions in the event of a natural or man-made disaster. A Disaster Recovery Plan, or DRP, documents the policies and procedures an organization must take to limit the negative effects of a disaster, such as downtime and data loss. The objective of a DRP is to minimize the disruption of business operations and to ensure the continuation of vital business processes in the event of a disaster.
What is a Disaster?
An event that causes a significant disruption of IT systems that are used to support critical business processes.
Some examples of disasters include:
- Power Outage
- Power Surge
- Storm Damage
- Flood
- Hurricane
- Earthquake
- Fire
- Physical Attack
How do you prepare for a Disaster?
- Know what your critical business functions are. It is important to know what parts of your business absolutely need to be accessible ASAP in the event of an emergency.
- Create a plan to bring up prioritized business functions. Make sure you have a plan that addresses all points of continuity in your business. Your files may be accessible from within your disaster recovery environment, but if none of your employees can access them to work they’re useless.
- Educate your users. By educating employees, you will ensure that they are aware of the company’s operating procedures and are prepared to continue their business functions.
- Keep up to date with Security. A proper implementation of antivirus, antimalware, password and file lockdown policies, and other tests can help minimize the occurrence of cyber security threats. Make sure your business stays ahead of the curve by staying ahead of cyber threats.
- Test your disaster recovery plan. The only way to be prepared in the event of an emergency is if you consistently and constantly test your disaster recovery plan.
A disaster recovery plan is necessary to any business, as they must prepare to meet customers’ needs regardless of any disruptions they may experience. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst by planning your business’s response to a disaster before it strikes.
For more information on developing and implementing your disaster recovery plan, contact Chelsea Technologies at (212) 966-3355.
