The Importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan 

Why is a disaster recovery plan important?

You might be surprised to know that sources have cited that nearly 75% of small businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place.  Why?  Most don’t believe they are at risk or feel their data is not attractive to cyber criminals.  The problem is we’re not just talking about hurricanes and flooding.  Sure, a fire could strike, or worse – a terrorist attack – but it’s far more likely that an infected email, a hardware failure or even human error could bring the house down first.  In fact, according to analyst group Dynamic Technologies, hardware failures cause 45% of total unplanned downtime. Followed by the loss of power (35%), software failure (34%), data corruption (24%), external security breaches (23%), and accidental user error (20%) (source: uswired.com).  And although the data may not be worth much on the black market, it’s worth a lot to business owners, which is where ransom attacks come into play.

The recovery process: How long does it take?

Without a plan in place, recovering from data loss could be devastating to SMB’s.  In some cases, companies that don’t have a plan go out of business within a year and can spend over $100,000 in the process.  According to the 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report from Verizon, 58% of all cyber attacks target small enterprises. While targeting a small business may not prove to be as lucrative, cyber criminals make them a target largely because these businesses lack network and data security policies.  

In addition to the cost, time and hassle of working through recovery, your customers will feel the impact, which, in turn, can weigh heavily on your business if they decide to turn to your competitor instead. 

Give your plan a test run.

Once you’ve assembled a disaster recovery (DR) plan, the next step is testing it out. This is a good opportunity to spot security holes, make necessary tweaks and gather input to make the overall success of DR faster and more efficient.  Periodic DR testing should be a regular part of network maintenance to be sure your plan can be carried out successfully despite infrastructure changes that occur as a result of changes in your business over time.  Both a tabletop test (key players walk through the plan step by step to ensure they know what they need to do and when/how to do it) and simulation tests (tools and technology that simulate an actual recovery plan execution) should be conducted to make sure your DR plan will work when and if you need it. There are various DR testing tools and technologies on the market that provide full-scale testing, and  they are worth the investment.

Can your business function without critical data?

Investing in a data back-up and recovery service is one of the smartest investments you can make to protect your business.   A team of professionals who are well-versed in disaster recovery can easily understand your requirements, make sure you’re prepared, and keep your data safe.  

Top 3 reasons why you should implement a back-up plan now:

• Security of company data. Peace of mind knowing your data is protected should a natural disaster or other unforeseen problem strike.

• Keep customers’ data safe. Your customers could very well be your most valuable asset.  Losing this data could literally put you out of business.
• Rebuilding data is difficult. With fire, flood or other natural disasters, re-building is an option. But as opposed to physical property, data cannot be re-built as easily.
• The ability to keep business running. Downtime can be costly. Even for a business that’s out of commission for one full day, it can be disastrous. With a back-up and recovery solution in place, you can still operate from the cloud to minimize disruption.

We partner with some of the best in the business, and our experience will make the process simpler for you and your team so you can have a plan in place quickly and easily without interrupting your business.  Ask us how to get started.