The success of your business depends on high availability of your network data and a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan that addresses the safety of your personnel, assets and data. As a small to medium sized business, it may not be necessary to back up every single file on your network nor have a redundant server ready at a moment’s notice to boot up at a remote data center on the other side of the country in the event that your primary server goes down. There are a few key questions you should ask and a few areas to focus on when developing your own disaster recovery (DR) plan. This information is not meant to be the sole source on which to base your DR plan, but it will touch upon some main points that should give a good foundation to get the ball rolling.
When we think of a disaster striking, hurricanes, tornadoes and fires come to mind. But when you are creating your DR Plan, you must also consider other types of disasters that might strike your network – deletion of data, security breaches, hardware failure and even disgruntled employees.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Could your business survive the loss of its data?
- Can you communicate with your employees if a disaster strikes during and after business hours?
- Could you stay open for business even if your office is not accessible?
- Are you prepared to relocate your business temporarily?
- Would you be able to access critical customer and company information if your office if not accessible?
- What is your cost of downtime?
- Cost = (Length of outage + Days since your last data backup) x (Payroll + Lost Revenue)
Here are a few tips to consider when creating your DR plan:
- Document internal key personnel and their backups. These are people who fill positions without which your business absolutely cannot function – make the list as large as necessary but as small as possible. Your list should include all contact information – business, home and cell numbers, business and personal email, home address and emergency contacts.
- Document external contacts. Critical vendors, business partners and contractors with company descriptions and full contacts. Do you know where to send your internet and phone bills.
- Document critical equipment. Computers with critical data and business applications, fax machines, special printers, copy machines.
- Identify and backup critical documents. Legal papers, utility bills, contracts, banking information, payroll information, building lease papers, tax returns… everything that would be needed to start your business over again.
- Identify a contingency plan for location and equipment. Where would you go if you could not work from your office? What computer equipment would you use as a backup?
- Put the plan on paper and distribute it to all employees.
- Periodically test and revise your plan.
Your first priority in any DR plan should be the safety of your employees. You should then concentrate on the health of your business and how quickly you can get it back up and running. From a technical point of view, a disaster doesn’t have to strike from Mother Nature. The most common type of company disaster is deletion of company files – this could be accidental or intentional. This is where a good security and backup plan come into play. Does everyone in your office have access to your payroll? Do you backup your data on a daily basis and have off-site storage for that backup?
For additional information on creating your plan and to get started with a Business Emergency Plan template, please fill out the form below. Southern Technology Group has archived several whitepapers designed to help Small Business get started with their disaster recovery plan.
If you would like more information on high availability backup and recovery solutions provided by Southern Technology Group, please visit our RecoveryLINK solutions page or contact us for a more detailed discussion.
SMB Disaster Recovery WhitePapers and Samples
Please complete the following form and you will be emailed the links to download these Sample Guides and Whitepapers.
