When you’re making the decision of whether or not to invest in a disaster recovery plan for your business, ask yourself this:

How badly will my organization suffer without my important data, applications, and ability to operate as normal?

If the mere question was enough to make your hair stand up, then you need to consider investing in disaster recovery.

Disaster recovery is a set of security planning measures taken in order to protect an organization’s infrastructure from a natural or manmade disaster. A disaster can take the form of anything that can put regular operations in jeopardy, whether it’s a security breach or system failure. The objective of disaster recovery is returning an organization’s operations to normal as soon as possible following a disaster. The process typically includes pre-planning, testing, and sometimes involves an external storage site for recovering data.

Businesses are reliant on being available. There is little to no tolerance for downtime. Studies have revealed that many businesses and organizations close or go out of business after suffering from excessive data loss. Disaster recovery can save a business from this fate in the event of an emergency. An effective disaster recovery plan requires the following components:

• A detailed, comprehensive recovery plan
• A map of the entire network infrastructure and recovery site
• A list of central personnel and their contact information
• Emergency response steps
• Description of software and systems that will be utilized in the recovery process
• Plan for dealing with media, financial, insurance and legal issues

Systems can fail

As the old saying goes, what can go wrong will go wrong. Machines can break down, fail, and completely throw a wrench in an organization’s daily operations. Servers can crash and hard drives can break down, losing countless amounts of important data.

Even though modern IT hardware has made it a long way in terms of upkeep and security, breakdowns are still possible. Nobody is completely immune to hard disk or internet connection failures. Having a disaster recovery plan in place is the only way to be sure that these failures won’t interrupt your workflow or end in data loss. It can be costly to eliminate the consequences of an IT disaster. The safer, cost effective option would be to back up data regularly. It’s also worthwhile to consider outsourcing your IT infrastructure to a reputable Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) provider. Doing so will ensure the best protection from interruptions and infrastructure issues.

Humans error is very real

Humans aren’t perfect. As a matter of fact, 80% of unplanned outages are due to poorly planned infrastructure changes implemented by administrators. Even the most cautious and careful of any staff team can forget a step in the process or enter the wrong information. While tiny errors like this are common, these mistakes can result in significant data loss and difficult IT fires to extinguish. Having a disaster recovery plan in place ensures that:

A) There is a database for your organization to back up its data so that nothing significant is lost in the event of an emergency.

B) Having software in plans, like anti-virus and firewall protection, ensures that the infrastructure is safe from a security breach.

Making sure your organization has efficient procedures in place is a good initial step, but having a backup and recovery solution in place is equally, if not more, important.

Customers lose trust

The growth of the Internet has made a wonderful effect on the interactions and proximity between clients and corporations. However, it has also forced companies to be more transparent, accountable, and accessible… constantly. Not to mention that the Web 2.0 revolution is a driving force behind the competition between feuding companies and organizations. With this growing sense of competition comes reduced costs and improved customer service… and less forgiving customers. Now, customers expect perfection because they know that if your organization can’t offer it, the next competitor is waiting around the corner. Don’t let a power outage or data breach scare your clients away.

Customer reacquisition is seriously costly

Investing in customer retention and disaster recovery is a considerable cost. However, it’s much more affordable and cost effective to keep a customer than it is to win a customer back. Winning a customer back after an IT disaster can be nearly impossible, since data loss and long-term outages can demolish trust. If customers are losing their investment because of disaster-related downtime, their trust in the company rapidly plummets. Investing in a disaster recovery plan and preventing system failures will cost you a lot less than losing your customer base and trying to solve a disaster after it has occurred.

Nature is unpredictable

Did you know that natural disasters have cost the global economy $2.5 trillion since 2000? Whether it’s a hurricane, tornado, or fire, every part of the globe is at risk of encountering some kind of natural disaster. For this reason, you shouldn’t leave the safety and well-being of your company up to chance. Studies have found that businesses without a disaster recovery plan implemented can find it extremely difficult, or even impossible, to return to work after a disaster occurs. As a matter of fact, 80% of all companies that experience an interruption of greater than five days, without any kind of recovery strategies in place, go out of business. Don’t be a statistic.

Cyber threats are growing constantly

Where there is data, there are cyber threats looming waiting to steal it. According to McAfee’s Economic Impact of Cyber Crime report, cyber criminals adapt and learn very quickly. Cyber criminals are constantly finding new technologies and devices to target victims and attack infrastructures. Reports have shown that nearly 800,000 records were lost daily in 2017. Even though the cyber security industry is growing and strengthening, the rise of technology means the rise of cybercrime. With attacks happening more and more frequently, aimed at businesses of all shapes and sizes, business leaders need to be careful and take preventative measures to avoid becoming the next statistic. Disaster recovery is the best place to start.

The terrifying, unfortunate truth is that anyone can fall victim to a business disaster. No business is invulnerable to IT fires, no matter how airtight their cyber security measures are. Too many businesses today are not prepared for an IT disaster and it causes them to fail in the end. A well-planned, strategic disaster recovery plan can make all the difference.

 Do you insure your company’s building and contents against manmade and natural disasters, like theft, fire, and food? If so, how do you protect your valuable client data used to run your business? Why not protect your sensitive data and infrastructure with a business disaster recovery plan? Reach out to us today to learn more about our disaster recovery services so you can feel at ease knowing your business’ security is in the hands of experts.