5 Elements of an Airtight Disaster Recovery Plan

Both natural disasters and cyberattacks threaten business continuity and longevity every day, independent of company size. Both large and small businesses are at risk if management does not have a clear and robust disaster recovery plan. When it comes to the importance of a disaster recovery plan, statistics tell the story. 

In a study of 150 businesses, 73 percent experienced a power failure that impacted their operations. Over half of these respondents had experienced the power outage within the last year. Half of the companies reported testing their disaster recovery plan only once a year or less. And polls indicate that 68 percent of small business owners don’t have a documented disaster recovery plan for their employees to follow. 

What Is a Disaster Recovery Plan?

A disaster recovery plan is a company document with detailed instructions on what to do in a power outage, natural or man-made disaster, cyberattack, or another kind of disruptive event. This plan explains what to do and provides strategies for working around temporary loss of power or data.

With a solid, efficient disaster recovery plan, your business should be able to continue its primary operations throughout the emergency, resuming full operations as quickly as possible.

Businesses of all sizes need to prepare themselves for any contingency. For example, a worst-case scenario could involve a power outage or weather-related event that causes service disruption or even employee evacuation. It might also involve a criminal attack on the company, either through physical force or cyber hacking and security breaches.

What Can a Good Disaster Recovery Plan Do for Your Company?

• Limit data loss
• Provide essential crisis training to employees
• Mitigate damage to operational systems
• Minimize operational disruptions
• Provide alternatives while critical systems are down
• Pave the way for a smooth transition to full operations
• Limit economic loss during downtime

Five Essential Components of an Airtight Disaster Recovery Plan

Here are five essentials for creating an airtight strategy for your company.

1. Make an Inventory of Your IT Tools and Equipment

First and foremost, you’ll want to create an inventory, itemizing a complete roster of all your company’s IT assets. Along with computers, remote devices, and network equipment, your list may include cloud storage, software, essential data, and other tools related to your network.

2. Assess All Cyber Risks

A cyber risk assessment should identify the components that an outage or attack would most damage or disrupt. This would include all network-dependent elements, such as cloud storage and the sensitive data hackers are most likely to target.  

3. Prioritize Protections

After assessing your cyber risks, prioritize areas that are most critical to your daily operations. Doing so lets your team focus on these areas first in case of an emergency. Examples would include:

• Databases with information vital to the infrastructure and finances of your business
• Databases with sensitive client and employee information
• Any cloud storage essential to operations

4. Backup Your Data

One of the most important things you can do is data backup—make external copies of as much information as you can. If possible, keep these copies in a separate, secure place safe from theft or natural disasters like fires or floods.

5. Choose a Disaster Recovery Solution

The final stage is to choose a data recovery solution for your industry. By using the right tools and the best consulting services, you can ensure that your network operating system and databases have the most secure protection available.

Next Steps 

An efficient plan can successfully guide your company through any worst-case scenario. You can rest assured that your business will survive and thrive with minimal service disruption or data loss by following these protocols. Contact Terminal B today to start formulating your disaster recovery plan!