“There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation.” – George Washington Carver
What will your business do is faced with a disaster? A disaster could occur in the form of a large storm or flood. Or it could be something as simple as an employee losing an unsecured laptop with sensitive company data.
Creating a disaster recovery (DR) plan is an essential part of planning for your business continuity. But being prepared means more than just having a plan. In order to make sure your plan will work, you must test it regularly. However, many small- and medium-sized businesses do not test their DR plans. Only 16 % do so once a month, according to a CloudVelox survey. 58% of IT pros and the organizations they represent report that they test their DR plans once a year or LESS.
So, what’s holding people back?
58% of IT departments reported that they lacked the resources, according to the same survey.
Testing a system is a big job, and it usually requires several hours of time. That may well be a luxury that your IT department lacks. Particularly because only 24% of IT pros said it would take less than an hour to get everything back up and running. 1/3 of them said it would take over 8 hours. That means a practice run could cost you a whole day of business. And who can afford that?
Also, 34% of respondents said that the process was too complex. But, if the process is too complex, how will it be executed when the time comes?
Why is Disaster Recovery testing important?
Even though we know it’s best to be prepared for the worst, most businesses don’t test their DR plans enough. If you don’t test, how will you know if it works? In fact, even when IT teams do test, 25% of the teams said they experienced failure or delays over 1/2 the time! These failures were due to issues like network connectivity, having the wrong configuration, or missing necessary patches. This could be a big problem. But, if you don’t find these errors BEFORE you need to recover your data, they will only create a more difficult problem to fix.
How often should I have my DR plan tested?
While there is no magic number, the answer is likely – more often than you are testing now. The more often you test, the more prepared you will be. If you want to be prepared for a disaster, you have to know the systems you have in place will work when they need to. A Managed IT Services Provider (MSP), such as HST, can help you regularly test your systems and make sure everything is working correctly and provide business network IT support. HST will test your backups in a way that won’t interfere with your day-to-day operations, so you won’t have to pause business to figure out what’s working and what’s not. That way, if and when you need your backup, you’ll be ready to go.
How can I improve my business’ DR preparedness?
The first step is to create an actionable plan. Your plan should include things like setting Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs), so you can be assured that you won’t be down any longer than you need to be. A good plan also includes identifying the risks that would make a disaster plan necessary. It might be a freak snowstorm or flood, or it might be something as simple as an employee accidentally downloading ransomware onto your network. Your plan should also include who is responsible and what they are responsible for. Your plan should even include next steps such as how to communicate your outage to customers, clients and the media, and how you will assure them their information is safe.
Disaster Recovery and Backup Solutions
Knowing the answers to these questions is a great place to start in understanding Disaster Recovery and Backup solutions. If you want more information or support, Higher State Technology can examine your network to help you analyze your risks and create a plan. We will provide IT disaster recovery services that are tailored specifically for your business.
You’ve spent a lifetime working hard to get where you are. You earned every penny and every client. Why risk losing it all? Get the facts and be certain your business, your reputation and your data are protected. Call us at 512-900-9478 or you can e-mail us at support@higher-state.com.
About Higher State Technology (HST) Since 2004, specialists at Austin-based Higher State Technology (HST) have provided implementation, troubleshooting, hardware, software and managed services solutions for multi-location companies and for solopreneurs. HST helps companies safeguard their IT assets through network protection, backups and disaster recovery, antimalware and anti-spam protection, and other risk management services. HST offers remote and onsite IT support and management tailored to the needs of each client. For more information, visit www.Higher-State.com.
Author: Meredith Clark; HST Writer
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