Having a Plan in Place for Business Continuity Brings Less Worry ...

Compromised data can mean disaster for businesses. It?s important to have a business continuity plan, also known as a disaster recovery plan, in place so that disasters can be avoided. These plans are put in place to show not only how to protect the data but also what to do in case of a catastrophic event or some natural disaster.

This is one of the least expensive options for small businesses because there?s almost no cost involved in producing a disaster recovery plan. To help improve your chances of recovery after a major event, it?s important to utilize things such as HP Business Continuity and Recovery Services.

Having a Plan in Place

So what does a Disaster Recovery Plan entail? Basically, it explains how employees will continue their daily jobs as well as communicate with one another if an emergency or disaster were to happen. Things that a small or medium sized business needs to include in a business continuity/disaster recovery plan are:

• Who are the key internal personnel?
• Who are the employees who can telecommute?
• Detail who the external contacts are and what critical equipment is on hand.
• List all critical documents, optional equipment and any secondary office locations.
• Detail who is supposed to do what and when.
• Make sure everyone knows of the plan and test it.
• Review the plan and revise it until it is perfect and covers all scenarios.

Can It Go Wrong?

When it comes to a disaster, many small to medium sized businesses are susceptible to losses. This is mainly because they were not appropriately prepared for such disasters. A disaster isn?t just a natural event like a tornado or hurricane. It also includes things like a virus infecting an entire network.

Many small and medium sized businesses are often working with very limited budgets. This means that usually their storage methods for data are inadequate. Most of these businesses are using things like external hard drives or flash drives to store data. While this is all right in the interim, it isn?t normally effective when a disaster strikes. They are good for a temporary fix, but they are not a permanent solution.

Using something such as a cloud offsite storage system is important when it comes to a disaster. When this is combined with things such as the HP ProLiant Gen8 DL380 file server system, then you can see the reality of what protecting your data is all about. This is one less thing to worry about when it comes to a disaster.

Getting Ahead of the Game

Stop data loss by keeping multiple backups of data and be sure to keep them offsite. Don?t just focus on synching data because that is not enough. Backing up data is the most important thing you can do to protect your business. You can synch and backup but don?t just synch alone. Be sure to retain copies of all files indefinitely instead of for 30 days. You don?t want to risk missing any important documents.

The Cloud is a Safe Place

Cloud storage is a huge benefit to small and medium-sized businesses because:

• It gives you physical and virtual security. So, whether you have a physical break-in or someone contaminates the system with a virus, your information is safe within the cloud.
• Cloud systems are user friendly and make backing up your data easier than ever.
• It?s an inexpensive option that?s well worth the effort to implement.

Refusing or neglecting to back up your company data is a disaster within itself. Having a disaster recovery plan in place can save you from losing what is most important to you and your business. It?s the one thing that could keep your business functioning if the worst happens.

Looking for a trusted business continuity professional to help plan your business from suffering a serious loss of data? ?Call our team today, we are ready to serve you.

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