Disasters happen. And they need to be planned for. Of course, right now our focus is hurricane preparation, but disaster can strike at any time, in many ways. Natural disasters like hurricanes, flooding, lightning strikes, and tornadoes need to be prepared for. However, theft, cyberattacks, loss of data, and many other adverse events also necessitate a disaster recovery plan. In today’s technology-driven world, incidence response is not optional. As much as we wish your business would never experience any sort of adversity, it’s just not realistic to expect. In our world, it isn’t a question of if, but when. I don’t say this to scare you or intimidate you; I say this to prepare you and inform you. We want to see your business thrive, and part of success is handling disaster quickly and efficiently.
Usually when disaster strikes, you have little to no warning. If a hurricane is inbound, you might get a week of preparation time. If floods are rising, you might get a day of warning. Power loss is immediate and unpredictable. You won’t know about theft or cyberattacks until after the fact. This is what’s so scary about adverse events: as soon as you find out about an actual or potential disaster, you should be actively dealing with it. There’s no time for planning.
That’s why we spend so much time and energy on disaster recovery preparation. When something unpredictable and harmful to your company occurs, small or big, we want to be there to help you through it with an already-established plan.
In disaster recovery preparation, we help you look at three main categories: documentation of IT infrastructure, disaster recovery planning, and disaster recovery testing. In the documentation category, we document every piece of hardware, every network, every Internet connection, all software, and all cloud services. In the disaster recovery planning section, we evaluate on-site and offsite backups, establish a timeline for IT recovery, evaluate situations in which your business remains operational or closes its doors, create contingency plans, create alternative communications procedures, and more. In the disaster recovery testing category, we do what most people overlook: test, test, and retest these procedures, equipment, and systems.
Next week, we’ll post our Hurricane Prep Checklist so that you can prepare for the coming storm season as thoroughly as possible. We want to see your business thrive this year, and this is a necessary step.