A question that is often overlooked by many businesses is “Do we have a disaster recovery plan?” Now, you are probably thinking that it’s not important but a DR plan is one of the most important plans you should have for your business continuity. It could potentially save your business one day and without one you all of your hard work could be gone in an instant.
Did you know, that about 56% of enterprises in North America still do not have good DR plans in place according to a study by CA Technologies in 2010. That means more than half of our country is at risk of losing their business. And those who are fortunate enough to survive without a DR plan will be barely hanging on to whatever aspect they have left. Scary, right? Well thankfully there is a way to help prevent all of this from happening, by having a very detailed disaster recovery plan.
But what exactly is a disaster recovery plan? It is a plan that businesses put in place to prevent or handle a disaster whether it be natural (hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.) or man made (hacking, DDoS attacks, etc.). The plan itself an operating procedure(s) that should be extremely detailed so that your IT team knows exactly what to do to rectify the situation in a timely manner and keep your business going.
Why is it so important? Well without it sure companies could lose all of their important files and documents because of a hurricane tearing down a power line or something as simple as opening in an email that you didn’t know was actually a virus. Whatever the incident may be it is always good to remember an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The point of having a good business continuity plan in place is to ensure that if something goes wrong that your business can still continue to run smoothly and recover from whatever happens. Being prepared is not the only benefit of a DR plan it also helps you figure out what needs to be done after the disaster occurs to try to keep it from happening again or at least not as drastically as it may have affected your business the first time. This gives you the sense of security that you need in order to build and maintain a strong business.
Not only does having a DR plan give you a sense of security, it also could save you a lot of money and save your business from going under. According to a study conducted by IHS it is estimated that $700 Billion is lost a year by enterprises due to IT outages. Just think of all the money your business can save just by taking the time out to create a well rounded Disaster Recovery plan!
If you’re not sure of how to start with writing your DR plan we have provided a downloadable checklist to help you start planning today!
Has your business continuity been preserved with an effective disaster recovery plan?