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What IT preparations should I make to for Disaster Recovery?
Remember Disaster Recovery isn’t just about IT. It’s about business continuity. Plan ahead so you will be
able to keep in touch with your customers and maintain work rate. You should train your staff so they know
what to do in advance.
But how much disaster should I prepare for?
That depends on the level of risk, and what you can afford. Unless you have a huge budget, you won’t have
spare offices on another site with computer terminals waiting for an emergency. But at the very minimum
you should have all your data backed-up in a safe place. Consider scenarios such as not being able to
access your office for some reason.
So there’s no point in preparing for an earthquake then?
Not unless that’s a known risk. A good starting place is identifying possible events, and then determining
their impact on the business. This will help you to determine what the essential functions within the
business are, and prioritise them accordingly. Timescale is important, some businesses may be able
to survive a few days of outage if disaster strikes, but others may need to be up and running again within
hours.
What are the priorities of disaster recovery?
The priorities will be different for everyone’s business. At a basic level, plan to keep lines of communication
open, so you can keep in touch with your customers via all the usual channels, such as telephone or email.
Make sure they can maintain confidence in you to deliver. Technology can help make your office virtual in
the event of a disaster.
So, by using a back-up server with the right software, we can keep in touch with all customers, even if it means doing so from home for a few days?
Yes, that could be one plan, if necessary. The solution is different for everyone but the most basic rule is
to keep a secure copy of your data offsite.
What about contacts?
Documents, contacts, and all your business data should be protected. More than just storing the data, you
need to consider as part of your plan how key personnel will have access to all the information that’s
necessary for the running of the business in the event of the worst happening.
Your business continuity
plan should also take in to consideration more than just natural disasters, you should consider other types
of emergencies.
You mean in case a CEO or some key person has an accident, and someone else must cover for them?
Exactly. Business continuity is about keeping your business running in any event. It could be just one
important person being unable to work. Make sure you don’t rely on them for everything.
That’s a good point. I carry some important information and contacts around in my head! What else?
Everyone’s considerations and plan is different. There are some good resources available to help you
start thinking. (Business Link here).
I’ll go and take a look, any final advice?
Be sure to test out your disaster recovery plans in advance, so you know it works before the real thing
happens.
Psychosis can offer help and advice in Business Continuity, as well as remote storage and Disaster Recovery Solutions. Click here to contact us.
Also in this issue: Customer Relationship Management and IP Telephony
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