Disaster Recovery
The below video is a discussion on Disaster Recovery, Data back-ups and the importance of hiring a professional to help you with this work rather than taking a DIY approach.
When I was the Office Manager of a Construction Company our Disaster Recovery Plan was focused on IT back-ups and it was my job to take the data back-ups home.
I was away on an overnight conference on the day our server crashed and the back-ups needed to be accessed. I had to contact my flatmate to get access for my colleague to go through my room to find the back-up tape.
We were lucky the back-up tape worked and we didn’t lose any more data! This was some time ago – when it comes to IT it’s no longer acceptable to take a DIY approach. The dangers of such an approach outweigh the costs of doing it properly.
When you’re working in a Small Businesses it feels difficult to ask for funding to get the appropriate help and systems in place. However, in my experience the Directors are unaware of the risks they are taking by failing to fund a project. A Director is more likely to approve expenditure when the cost of not proceeding with a project is made clear.
IT
- Back-up securely to The Cloud
- Ensure you are also keeping a local back-up
- Test data back-ups regularly (don’t assume they will work)
- Create a manual system to fall back on while your back-ups are being restored
Specialized Equipment
Purchase a back-up of specialized equipment, particularly if that equipment will be difficult to procure. Where possible, run this from an alternative location.
If you want to increase your Organizational Resilience, start with preparing a Business Continuity Plan and check out BCP Builder’s Business Continuity Plan Template.
