Organizations must prepare for everything from natural disasters to complete system failures. Without a disaster recovery plan in place, a business could suffer significant setbacks that result in lost money, time and resources. A disaster recovery plan is essentially a document created by an organization that contains instructions on how to appropriately respond to disasters like power outages, fires, cyber-attacks and similar unexpected occurrences.
Why Are Disaster Recovery Plans Important?
Many businesses make their disaster recovery plan a top priority and for good reason. No business is invulnerable to disasters but having a well-crafted plan can help ensure that a business is able to continue normal operations quickly to meet the constant demand of products or services.
A disaster recovery plan helps businesses take action before, during, and after a disaster strikes to help minimize damage and protect business resources. Having a disaster recovery plan in place can help minimize recovery time, improve security, prevent potential legal liability, and help avoid the need for potentially- damaging last-minute decision making.
Who Should Have A DRP In Place?
In a highly digital world, having a disaster recovery plan should be on every business’s radar. Whether it is a deleted file caused by human error or a massive ransomware attack that impacts thousands of customers, a DRP can help ensure that businesses are able to approach these threats in a strategic manner.
Businesses both large and small should consider crafting a detailed disaster recovery plan. In fact, any business that manages electronic information or data should have a disaster recovery plan in place as an additional form of protection.
Benefits Of Data Backup & Disaster Recovery Services
Data backup and disaster recovery services can be invaluable for businesses in the event of a disaster. When any type of disaster occurs, businesses must be able to respond quickly to help minimize damage. Recovery services provide guidance on how to handle various situations using a multitude of different recovery options based on the type of threat.
Even one day of downtime can cost a business thousands of dollars and having to close for multiple days or even weeks could force a business to close its doors. There are many benefits of data backup and disaster recovery services, such as:
- Maintain employee productivity. When businesses have a data backup and disaster recovery solution in place, employees can remain productive by following the protocol laid out in the recovery document.
- Generate revenue. Productive employees and a solid recovery plan often allow businesses to continue generating revenue even after a disaster or major disruption to business operations has occurred.
- Preserve business reputation. How a business handles a major event like a natural disaster or IT system malfunction says a lot about their professionalism. Outages and downtime can result in unsatisfied customers which can hurt a business’s reputation. A disaster recovery plan can help ensure that customers remain happy.
- Meet client obligations. Just because a disaster occurs within a business does not necessarily mean that the business no longer has to meet its obligations. Customers will still inspect the business to deliver at some point. Backup and disaster recovery enable businesses to meet these important deadlines.
- Prevent loss of business. If downtime occurs, customers may choose to spend their money at a competitor’s business. A disaster recovery plan helps prevent loss of business to competitors.
- Ensure compliance. Data is protected by certain industry regulations to help protect the privacy of consumers. A disaster recovery plan can help safeguard this sensitive information even during a disaster.
What Is Remote Data Backup?
Remote data backup is the process of duplicating or securing data from a remote location to achieve better data security. Businesses that have multiple locations often use remote data backup strategies as a way to protect data in the event of a disaster or other emergency. Remote data backup solutions can be valuable in a wide range of situations, such as a fire or theft. Remote data backup allows data to be remotely accessed from any location. Features like selective file restore are generally available with most remote data backup services.
Speak To An Experienced Managed IT Services Provider
According to a report published by the IT Disaster Recovery Preparedness Council, just one hour of downtime can cost a small business as much as $8,000, a mid-sized business as much as $74,000, and a large business upwards of $700,000 or more.
While a disaster recovery plan cannot prevent a disaster from occurring, it can help to ensure that a business responds to the event in the best way possible. Even if a business already has a disaster recovery plan in place, consider an upgrade. For more information about disaster recovery plans or to acquire managed IT services, reach out to the experienced managed IT services providers at TCB Associates.