Why It Makes Sense to Create a Written Plan for when Disaster Strikes
When natural disasters happen, people tend to rely on a very clear set of instructions to help mitigate the damage that the emergency might cause. It only makes sense that you should have a written plan when it comes to technology emergencies, too. The benefits of doing so are many, and it could make a tremendous difference in the continuity of your company.
Why You Need a Disaster Recovery Planning Project
You’d never drive your car without insurance since you wouldn’t be covered in the event of an emergency. If your company’s IT department doesn’t have a disaster recovery plan, it’s just like driving without insurance. If something happens, whether that something is a fire, a flood, an earthquake, or even a complete system failure, you will have nothing to fall back on and your company would come to a screeching halt. It’s imperative to put together a written disaster recovery plan that is easy to understand. This way, when the worst happens, everyone knows exactly what to do to help ensure that your business is able to not only survive, but thrive as if nothing ever happened.
People Will Have to Work Somewhere
If a disaster is physical in nature, such as a fire or a severe weather event, then your employees won’t be able to carry out their jobs on-site. Part of your disaster recovery plan should include a list of the most critical jobs in your business – the ones that are vital to its continuity. As an example, while you might consider your accountant and your customer service team critical parts of your company, your telemarketing team is not. Aside from deciding which jobs you’ll need to relocate, you should also decide where they will work. Setting up an alternative location before an emergency strikes can make a huge difference.
Losing Data Is Bad News
Finally, one of the worst possible things that could happen in a disaster is the loss of your data. If you store your servers on-site, then this risk is multiplied tenfold. If those servers go down and you don’t have a backup, think of all of the information you will lose. Your customers’ names and addresses, your shipping and warehouse data, and so much more would be affected. Recovering from such a thing would be next to impossible. Fortunately, you can hire companies to help you with data redundancy. These companies keep backups of all of your server information off-site, so when disaster strikes, your information is protected.
You Must Prevent Downtime
Finally, perhaps the most important reason for creating a written disaster plan has to do with the prevention of downtime. When your servers go offline and you don’t have backups, it’s almost like your company ceases to exist. Your website will display errors, your telephone systems may not work, and your customers won’t be able to reach your sales or customer service agents. It doesn’t take long before your entire brand is affected, either. That’s why you need redundancy – to minimize downtime and keep your reputation solid.
Just as being able to act immediately in the event of an emergency could save lives, a written disaster recovery plan can save your business. It defines the steps that everyone must take in such a way that they are easily understood, and all of these steps can help keep your business up and running.
The post Why It Makes Sense to Create a Written Plan for when Disaster Strikes appeared first on SDTEK | San Diego, CA.
