What Happens When A Disaster Strikes Your Business?

Last week we discussed the importance of building and developing a full coverage Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).  Choosing to collocate your data to a data center should be your next step. There are many benefits of choosing to collocate company data, the main one would be to help facilitate the DRP.

Choosing a data storage partner comes down to many factors: security, stability and the storage locations of your sensitive information. Often we find clients have questions and misconceptions about data storage. Here are some misconceptions to watch out for.

 

My Data’s Backed Up = My Disaster Recovery Plan is done

 

Often clients have the notion that once the data backup has been verified to be operational the DRP is complete. Colocation of company data provides a great starting point for a DRP, but if that is the sole item on the checklist; there are some crucial steps missing.

 

Prepare.Assess.Execute.

Prepare. Ensure that there is a fully operational plan in lieu of any type of disaster oversee all the key elements – Business Operations, backup data, applications, systems, network and any other essential cogs. Getting the recovery foundation well documented will ensure a smooth transition when disaster strikes.

During the first stage, ensure that the DRP defines the correct types of dangers that are prevalent in your place of business be it; geographical, environmental, power/utility troubles, network disruptions. Some issues will garner a higher risk of danger than others – decide which incidents will matter the most for your organization. Continue to build the DRP as per the last post (Link) for all the matters that go inside the business.

 

Assess. Disaster has struck. Not really your fault but you’ve taken the precautions to ensure the business is protected. Pat yourself on the back.

 

Execute. The DRP should be in full swing, team members will be bristling with a pace you haven’t seen since they were first hired. Simply having that backup wont ensure that there will still be business continuity.  Ensure that the plan covers not just the integrity of the data, but the viability of the systems that are required to run your business backups and bring it back to business operations as soon as possible.

‘Disaster Recovery’ emphasis should be on the recovery, not on the disaster. Work with your vendors, channel partners, and industry peers to ensure you’ve thought of all permutations of system downtimes. Otherwise the company backups will have no place to go.

 

Long Distance Relationships Suck.

One great misconception is that the offsite location must be a great distance away. Myth.  Farther means it’s inaccessible – finding that right balance between being far enough to be safe, yet close enough for accessibility is key.

The type of disaster will dictate the safe zone for the offsite location. If your business is at a high risk for floods, ensure that the offsite location is on high elevation & away from a body of water. The secondary site should be located far enough from the business location to ensure that the same disaster doesn’t strike both locations.

One of the negative drawbacks of distance is the slow data transmission. With regular, system wide comprehensive backups; latency can make the process daunting.

Additionally if the distance required to reach the offsite location is a few hours by car – it may impact your preparedness. It’s a burden on the team to travel such distances for tests, checkups and upgrades. Smaller fixes get put off till big ticket items show, work productivity is effected; the classic saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ really places the offsite location on the backburner.

 

Security & Stability Matters.

When picking an offsite partner ensure that they are fully certified with industry specific accreditations, have a secure lock down facility, and redundant power & network systems. If they are missing these essential elements, it is not a partner you to have storing your data.

Picking a co-lo partner with a stable history and strong investments into technology are important; with that in mind you can be assured that your data is in experienced hands. For a more robust solution, ensure that a cloud based backup solution is also in place in conjunction with the offsite. It will offer an additional layer of backup and rapid deployment without delay.

 

Selecting the right disaster recovery partner can help with ensuring that all your bases are covered. Disaster recovery is complicated, there is misinformation, oversimplification, misconceptions, lack of understanding the severity simple issues – this is all before the disaster strikes!

Questions? Contact us – we’ve been DR specialist for over 15years. We bring experience, stability, and foresight from past disasters to ensure your business is protected.

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