Is It Time to Develop a Business Disaster Recovery Plan? These 4 Signs Say Yes!

Collecting consumer data is something most businesses are quite accustomed to. Keeping this data safe is a must, but a company’s work shouldn’t stop at cyber-security.

Making sure this data is accessible following a natural disaster or network outage is important. This is why having comprehensive disaster recovery solutions in place should be one of your main priorities.

In a recent study, over 80 percent of business owners claimed that their existing IT infrastructure was unprepared for a disaster recovery incident. Rather than losing all of your important data, you should work with seasoned IT professionals to get both a disaster recovery and business continuity plan in place.

Read below to find out more about the warning signs you may notice when it is time to get serious about creating a disaster recovery plan.

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  1. Lack of a Formal Disaster Recovery Plan

The biggest mistake most business owners make is thinking that having a cloud-based data backup is all they need to recover from a disastrous situation. In the hours and days following a natural disaster, businesses without a formal plan in place will struggle to keep their heads above water. The last thing you want to do after experiencing a disaster is to fly by the seat of your pants due to a lack of structure.

Understanding what applications and data your company needs to function is just the tip of the iceberg when creating a disaster recovery plan. You will also need to figure out which key members of your staff will be needed to keep the business afloat following a natural disaster or cyber-attack. Having this information ahead of time can save you a lot of stress during these types of situations.

  1. Failure to Establish Offsite Backups

Some business owners think that having onsite backups is the only thing they need to weather the storm when disaster strikes. What happens when these servers crash? The short answer to that question is that all of the data your business has collected will go down with the ship.

Preparing for the effects of a natural disaster or equipment failure is easy when using cloud-based backups. Paying a company to keep all of your records and data in the cloud is a great investment. By using a cloud backup, you will not have to worry about starting completely over in the event of a disaster.

  1. Geographical Diversity is Essential

If you are like most business owners, working with other companies in your area is something you are passionate about. While supporting local business is a great thing, it can also lead to problems in the event of a disaster. If the company you rely on for disaster recovery is affected by the same issues, they will be unable to help you out.

This is why you need to diversify when it comes to the location of your disaster recovery provider. Choosing a company that is based in another state can help you avoid major issues during natural disasters.

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  1. The “Set it and Forget It” Philosophy

You may think that disaster recovery and business continuity planning is something you can set and forget. However, this type of planning takes ongoing changes and modifications to be successful. If you are not testing your existing strategies, chances are you will be unable to find and fix issues that exist.

Not only does this leave your business vulnerable, it can be quite costly if you are faced with a disastrous situation. By working with disaster recovery professionals, you can get the help needed to develop and test your plan regularly.

The time and effort invested in creating and maintaining a disaster recovery plan will be well worth it in the long run.

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