Disaster recovery planning can keep you out of the abyss
Just as every ship captain brings a life preserver, every small business should have a disaster recovery plan.
Regardless of how proactive and protected you are, problems will arise. In part, that’s because there are so many ways that disaster can strike a technology environment. Causes include fires, major power outages, natural disasters, accidental deletion, employee vandalism, hacking, theft, viruses, broken sprinkers/pipes/flooding, and simple hardware failure (especially prevalent after three years of use).
This year, the Gartner Group estimates that 40% of small to medium businesses that manage their own network and use the Internet for more than email will have their network accessed by a hacker, and more than 50% won’t even know they were attacked.
Backing up your data is the most important and expensive part of preparing for a disaster, so be sure to examine this area closely. Options include:
USB backup. Purchase an external hard drive or even thumb drive, and copy data regularly from the server or workstation. This is the simplest method for data backup, and entrance cost is minimal. Restoring individual documents is easy, and the system requires no real IT expertise. However, USB is easily destroyed, misplaced or stolen.
Tape backup. A series of tapes are scheduled to be rotated nightly, with weekly copies kept off-site. Tape backup is relatively inexpensive, simple and non-technical. But, the initial cost is high, the process can be labor intensive, and tapes can degrade over time.
Hosted Backup. Data is sent encrypted across the internet to an off-site facility. This is the most robust backup solution, providing the highest level of recovery point and the fastest recovery time. It protects against every possible threat, and requires no user interaction. Potential negatives include high expense and bandwidth challenges for large volumes of data.
To begin planning, first assess vulnerabilities, audit current systems, and initiate plan document development. Bring in third-party resources as warranted to access needed expertise and keep the process moving forward.
Join us on April 21st for our Disasater Recovery Webinar from 11:30 – 12:30. Learn more about hosted backup on April 28th for our Disaster Recovery Luncheon at the Chop House in Denver.
