If you are running a business then you may feel that nothing will ever go wrong as you focus on the day-to- day running of your business or ideas you may have for the future but how prepared are you for disaster recovery? These can be anything from hard drive failure to a power failure so without any form of preparation these can become colossal disasters quite quickly.
Having a business continuity plan ensures that your business has something to fall back on when things do not go to plan. It should contain contact information, suppliers, back up plans and instructions and this will give people the starting blocks they need should something go wrong.
Creating a business continuity may seem like a difficult task because you may think that you have everything you could think of but then you think outside of the box and at other problems and then your plan can become out of control. There is no need to create a plan for every possibility but a basic guide will enable you to tackle any problem from a starting point. So whether your plan covers the failure of a hard drive or even a surge of electricity the same plan could work for both.
From an IT perspective your plan should contain the list of people to contact in order of importance as well as the location of all utilities like gas, water and electricity. There should also be a list of suppliers who can supply you with the equipment quickly and it should also explain where all important and relevant documents are located along with important details. You will of course require backups, so documenting the location of these is also key along with how they can be retrieved and this can be rounded off with details of how to let staff know what they should do should there be a problem.
There is no doubt that backups are crucial and there are many options available regardless of whether you want to back up computer, a server or a website there should be back up plan for all pieces of equipment that you have. Cloud hosting makes it easier to keep backups safe and more importantly separate which means that there is no need to worry about what kind of media you want to store it on.
When it comes to web hosting there are a number of options available but the hosting platforms available are often great for file hosting as they are security and enable you to keep your files safe and away from the office. In many cases these servers come with an extra piece of mind because the hosting companies will also have a business continuity plan as they are often staffed 24/7 with fire suppression systems and security staff and they will have continuous power, even if there is a power cut.
The extra security is worth it and setting it up is not difficult with hosting companies taking the hard work out of it. Automatic backups will ensure that your data is accessible at any time regardless of what happens but one thing is guaranteed and that is the fact that your business will be fully prepared for any disasters should they occur.
Getting your business back on track when disaster hits is vital because time lost also equates to lost money and that is never a good thing. Having a plan in place that will help you to quickly re-establish yourself so that you can become fully functional as soon as possible following the disaster is the best place to start.