As technology becomes more and more critical to business operations, the value of data also increases. The modern company has most of its information—sales records, customer files, employee data—stored within a database. And, obviously, all software applications (which can be the nuts & bolts of a company’s operations) are accessed via servers.
In addition to the indispensable benefits, there’s a lot of risk in going completely digital. If you haven’t already created backups and a disaster recovery plan—or are still in the midst of refining a plan—then it’s essential that you get started now.
For the sake of the topic, here are four things you may not know about recovery plans:
1. They’re statistically proven to be essential.
- According to IDC, the premier global market intelligence firm, a company has only a 10% chance of survival if it does not have a disaster recovery plan. Betting on those odds won’t get you far.
- Also according to IDC, employees and insiders are responsible for 70% of attacks on computer networks. This means that as long as your company has employees, it’s at risk.
- Estimations from International Data Corp. denote that companies lose an average of $84,000 for every hour of downtime. As your company develops, the risk of operating without a recovery plan becomes greater.
These statistics speak for themselves, and there are plenty more to boot. Scour the internet for a bit if you’re interested in finding more—you might be surprised by what you learn.
2. Top companies have shifted from on-site backup to cloud backup.
Someone who is serious about disaster recovery could do worse than move their backup to the cloud. In fact, doing so is largely considered best practice. Here’s why:
- It eliminates the need for IT staff. The thing about IT staff is that the experts know what they’re worth and the rookies can often make things worse. Either way, you’re losing money.
- The infrastructure, including hardware, network infrastructure and software, can be more than you bargained for. Cloud services take responsibility for the infrastructure, thus saving you major money.
- Cloud backups are hosted off-site, which means you’ll be protected against any kind of disaster. Network crashes, hacker intrusions, physical disasters—it doesn’t matter. Whatever happens, your data will be accessible from the internet. This ensures that your day-to-day operations are not disrupted during a disaster.
3. Highly trained staff members are still necessary for a recovery plan.
Formerly, recovery plans revolved around trained staff members. Today, in spite of advanced technology, they still do.
Maximum efficiency calls for active participation and knowledge. This notion comprises a few key pieces:
- Staff members are coached in how to react to disasters, including how to use recovery technology (e.g., cloud-based recovery software) and steps specific to their individual departments.
- An automated system that immediately informs staff members when a disaster occurs is established..
- The recovery plan is practiced on a regular basis so that staff members are well-versed in its execution.
- Quarterly meetings are held in order to collect input from all departments on ways to improve the current recovery plan.
Remember: technology is not a substitute for human competency. Effective disaster recovery plans combine up-to-date technology with staff expertise; a plan that lacks one or the other is simply mediocre.
4. Cloud backups and recovery plans are unique for every company.
A common misconception about cloud recovery plans is that they follow a general framework. Truthfully, your plan must meet the specific needs of your company. Because cloud backups are being accessed online, many factors are at play here:
- User-authentication processes (e.g., passwords and encryption).
- Bandwidth and network capacity.
- Security measures.
- The speed at which a complete restore is conducted.
- Selecting a service. (Is your provider reliable?)
- Selecting infrastructure if you opt into vendor services.
As you may have guessed, the above items are cost-based considerations. Switching to the cloud for backups and disaster recovery is almost guaranteed to save you money; exactly how much money you save depends on your target standards. Just ensure that each bit of cash that you inject into your plan is highly justified—a methodical approach is the key to excellence.
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