The ultimate disaster recovery cheat sheet: Part 2
Disaster Recovery 101: Backup Disaster Recovery Plans
Just as you want to know what's going on with your employees and how to get your business up and going. To keep your business running smoothly, you need to have a backup disaster recovery plan in place. A BDR (Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan) should always be in place. Regularly test you BDR to ensure it works effectively when you need it the most.
Ask yourself these critical questions to prepare for data recovery:
- Are you currently backing up data?
- How much data would you lose if you relied on your last backup?
- What steps are necessary to recover your data?
- Where is your data stored?
Answered these questions before creating a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan. Your goal is to restore as quickly as possible while losing as little data as possible.
Cloud Services
Imagine your data is stored in a server inside of your office that gets damaged in a fire or flood. You would lose everything. Moving to the cloud allows you to store everything off-site. Ensuring you can operate from anywhere with as internet connection. Cloud services provide access to your data, software systems and more.
The cloud keeps your business running smoothly. You can connect into your data to get anything you may need. CRM (customer relationship management) software, for sales leads and customer data. ERP (enterprise resource planning) software will allow you to manage your finances. This flexibility allows you to operate without being dependent on a specific work location.
Back-Ups
Back up directly to the cloud. Small business IT support services are available to help you decide on the best backup solution based on the data that you are working with. It can be automated, too, so you don't have to remember to back up everything manually.
This way, if you do experience a disaster, you can rely on IT companies instead of an employee to handle the data recovery.
Disaster Recovery
Your computer systems are crucial. If your laptops go down or server malfunctions, you must be prepared. With a disaster recovery plan, you can be sure that your system is updated and critical systems up and running as quickly as possible.
Work with a professional IT company to learn recovery procedures and focus on essential tasks without worrying about human error.
Your disaster recovery plan needs to consider such things as:
- On-site and off-site backups
- Cloud data center
- Off-site replications
Quarterly planning and testing should take place as well. Many businesses set their plan up and then forget about it. However, regular stress tests reveal weaknesses before a real disaster occurs.
Review how easy it is to recover files and how long it will take. This knowledge helps improve your disaster recovery plan. For example, if it is going to take several hours for a system to get back up and running. You will need to know what you can be doing until then. Have a manual system in place to take orders or deal with customers who may be calling in.
If you can get your data and all of your systems up, it will allow you to continue with business as usual. However, you also need to make sure you have thought about your building and the basic procedures to recover from the disaster. It will ensure that you can start to generate revenue as quickly as possible.
If you want to learn more on how to be better prepared in case disaster strikes contact Kotori Technologies, LLC.
