When disaster strikes, your business needs to be ready for anything. Natural disasters, power outages, and cyberattacks are just a few of the events that could bring your operations to a grinding halt. However, with a strong disaster recovery plan you can ensure every device and employee in your business is prepared for the worst. This isn’t just convenient, it’s necessary to keep your business running smoothly and prevent prolonged issues. Continue reading to learn how to create a disaster recovery plan that will protect your business.
What is a Disaster Recovery Plan?
The best way to protect your business from unpleasant surprises is by preparing for them. Disasters are going to happen, so you need a detailed strategy that outlines how your business will restore IT systems, data, and operations. A disaster recovery plan is exactly that and minimizes or even prevents damage. Each discovery plan must be customized to fit your business, but it should include the following:
- Roles and responsibilities for your team
- Emergency communication protocols
- Data backup strategy
- System failovers
- Hardware replacement plans
- Recovery timelines
These vital components of a disaster recovery plan ensure your entire team if prepared for anything, ensuring a quicker recovery process.
Benefits of a Disaster Recovery Plan
Less Downtime
Unplanned downtime can wreak havoc on a business’ operations, finances, and reputation. And when an hour of downtime can cost SMBs up to $100,000, according to ITIC’s 2024 survey, the threat of business collapse is even greater. Without a robust disaster recovery plan, the downtime will only last longer, further disrupting your business. Losing access to your client database, email systems, or internal files isn’t just expensive; it threatens customer trust in your business. A disaster recovery plan eliminates wasted time wondering what to do after an incident occurs. Instead, you can take immediate action to get your systems back online and continue business as usual.
Cost-Efficiency
Downtime isn’t the only expensive consequence of disasters. Depending on the incident, your business may also need to budget for equipment repair, fines, data recovery and more. This can quickly drain your bank account, especially if your business has already had to stop working to make repairs. Not only does a disaster recovery plan reduce downtime, but it can also help prevent certain threats to your business. Planning proactively reduces non-disaster downtime by handling small fixes and repairs before they become critical issues. This may mean implementing strong cybersecurity measures, updating hardware and software, and securely backing up all your important data. This may cost your business in the short term, but ultimately it will save you time and money you would have spent trying to get your data back or fix broken systems.
Data Protection
Every business relies on data to run smoothly. If businesses are unable to access this important information, operations slow or even come to a stop. And while interrupted access is frustrating, it is nothing compared to total data loss due to a surprise event. Data recovery plans prevent this by requiring businesses to implement backup procedures. Start by creating at least three backups of your important information, storing them on two different types of media, with at least one being kept offsite. This ensures that if your main location is down and the data there is lost, you still have backups available to continue your work. Just make sure your data automatically backs up at least once a day and the backups are encrypted to keep them as secure as possible.
Regulatory Compliance
If your business handles sensitive data, a disaster recovery plan does more than keep this information safe; it keeps your entire business in compliance with industry standards. Healthcare, finance, and government are just a few of the industries that legally require their businesses to have a disaster recovery document. These regulations ensure that your business’ operations and responses align with industry standards. If your disaster recovery plan doesn’t follow their specifications, you risk fines and even legal repercussions that will be expensive and ruin your reputation. With a disaster recovery plan though, you keep your organization up to code and save money.
Improve Scalability
A disaster recovery plan doesn’t just protect your business; it can also help optimize it. Your operations are going to grow, eventually putting a strain on your current technology. A well-thought-out disaster recovery plan helps prepare you for any changes your business may need to make in the future. For example, since you need to be able to access your data even if your main devices are without power, disaster recovery plans often include implementing cloud storage. This backup strategy gives businesses the power to securely access their data no matter where they are through a solution that’s easy to increase or decrease storage as needed. Instead of having to plan and invest in new physical equipment to store your data, you can adjust your cloud subscription and get more capacity immediately.
Keep Your Business Running Smoothly No Matter What
No matter what industry you’re in, you need to have a disaster recovery plan in place to protect your data and operations. The better prepared you are, the easier it will be to recover from an emergency. Disaster recovery isn’t just about preparing for severe weather or power outages though; it’s also about defending your business from cyberattacks. Sign up for our free weekly e-course to get expert advice on how to improve your cybersecurity plan and keep your business secure against the growing number of threats.
