Is your company prepared in the event of a disaster? Although business plans are commonplace, you’d be shocked how many companies don’t have disaster-proof plans. Fortunately, there are recommendations for mitigating the effects of disasters, whether natural or man-made.
Every company owner dreads the possibility that their operations will be disrupted by severe weather or other natural disasters. However, this happens much more often than you’d imagine. What’s worse, small and new enterprises are more susceptible and likely to go out of business following a large storm.
To avoid this tragedy, here are some simple steps you can take to disaster-proof your most critical business assets:
Assess Your Critical Business Assets
With the right data management software and managed IT security provider, organizations can quickly identify and understand the types of sensitive data you handle and which departments are using them. This will help them make better decisions when it comes to storing and protecting that data.
Thus, take the time to look at your business’s weather-related risks and identify areas where you might be vulnerable. Then take steps to reduce those risks.
Conduct Regular Backup
Whether your business is small or large, data protection is essential for running a successful operation. And online data backup is a vital component of keeping your business data secure.
Regularly backing up your data is an integral part of running a business since it can help minimize the risk of losing important information. Thus, having a regular backup is a simple and effective way to ensure that your business is disaster-proof.
Moreover, if you’re not getting any help from a competent IT company in conducting regular backup, then it’s time to look for another provider. Having the proper backup and recovery methods will help keep your business running smoothly.
Choose The Right Storage Medium
Ideally, you should restore your data in less than a week after a disaster. However, this method isn’t ideal if you have sensitive data and need to wait for a long time. Many companies try to achieve a recovery point objective (RPO) of 24 hours. If the goal is to recover all the data that the company is willing to use, this could be very costly and time-consuming.
Storing your data in an off-site location is also beneficial if you have a geographically diverse workforce. By keeping your data in various centers across the globe, you can ensure that your data is always available in case of a disaster. Here are some ways to do this:
- You can choose a good cloud storage provider with a track record of continuous improvement. Usually, they can provide a variety of storage options.
- Another option you may consider is storing your data in tapes or disks as these are easy to use. They’re also portable, so you can quickly move them to an off-site location.
- If your business has multiple locations, you can deploy two network-attached storage devices at each location and set them to sync or back up over the network.
Disaster-proof storage devices are built to provide the ultimate local storage protection. They eliminate the need to chuck tape cartridges into an actual safe. Keep in mind that although disaster-proofing your business can be a little time-consuming, it will be worth it.
Draft And Test A Disaster-Proof Recovery Plan
The need to have a documented disaster-proof recovery plan may seem self-evident. Still, due to the complexity of the old replication and disaster recovery methods, it’s all too easy to overlook this crucial part of disaster recovery.
One would hope that the administration of all of these components could be accomplished via a single interface. SLAs or Service Level Agreements for replication should be specified, as should the creation of virtual protection groups and the selection of the virtual machines to be protected.
When it comes to managing your data, think about the most imminent threats. Then, explore the options for minimizing or even completely avoiding these risks. This strategy can be easily implemented with the help of a good IT company.
Invest In Technology Solutions
If you’re working on a business continuity strategy and you run into a brick wall, you may need to integrate the latest technology into your present asset protection solutions. After all, business continuity is built into cloud-based technologies.
For instance, even if you have analog phones in your workplace, you may want to subscribe to a low-cost VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone plan. This technology allows you to move a toll-free number to a cloud-based phone that can be answered from any location. Which can serve as a backup in case of any disaster.
Have A Strong Continuity Plan
Consider the following measures to make sure your company can continue operating even after a severe weather event:
- Prepare ahead of time for every emergency.
- Establish an emergency command chain to identify who will be in charge of making critical decisions in the event of a crisis.
- Negotiate cooperation agreements with other companies to share office space, phones, computers, and other assets.
- Decide what personnel, processes, and equipment you’ll need to keep your firm running well.
- Establish managerial succession protocols.
Train Your Employees
When it comes to disaster-proof preparedness, in addition to the things you need to do as a company owner, don’t forget the value of your employees as a company resource. To prepare your personnel for adverse events, make sure you train them and make your business continuity and disaster recovery plans available to them.
Don’t allow a calamity to set you back to square one after all the hard work, money, and effort you’ve invested into growing your company. Create a comprehensive training program for your employees to protect your critical business assets.
Takeaway
Remember that no two disaster-preparation strategies will be the same, especially considering the wide differences between business operations. However, the general principles presented here should help you adopt a strategy that will disaster-proof your critical business assets. Moreover, remember to stick to the strategy you’ll develop.
While disaster-proofing your company’s critical assets may require some time and money, the alternative of starting over after a disaster is much more costly. You’ll be more at ease no matter what the future holds if you take efforts now to endure unexpected disasters.
Also Read: 7 Budget-Friendly Tech Solutions For Small Businesses
