According to Gartner, unscheduled downtime costs an average of $5,600 per minute. Although the real cost varies between businesses, there’s no denying that business paralysis something you need to proactively work to avoid. That means building a robust backup and disaster recovery strategy that allows you to return to normal operations as soon as possible. Here are five key steps you need to make it happen:
#1. Create a disaster recovery plan
In the old days, businesses would often back up their documents on tape drives at the end of the working day. This basic method eventually evolved into more advanced storage devices and data centers. Unfortunately, given the increasing complexity of today’s corporate networks, none of these methods are adequate anymore.
You need a full-fledged disaster recovery plan that includes a complete inventory of your data-baring systems and a thorough overview of the risks facing them. Just as important is the fact that you need the right tools and procedures in place to recover your systems as quickly as possible.
#2. Test your failure points and remediation strategy
If you haven’t thoroughly tested your disaster recovery plan, then you may as well not have one. It’s important to remember that digital risk and disaster recovery are inextricably connected, which means you need to test every potential point of failure and determine how you’ll recover your apps and data in a worst-case scenario.
Just having an up-to-date backup isn’t enough. You also need clearly defined protocols and procedures for getting everything back up and running, and that means paying close attention to the human element of your plan. Employees need to be familiar with their roles and responsibilities throughout the recovery process.
#3. Set realistic recovery objectives
When assembling your backup and disaster recovery strategy, there are two equally important parameters you’ll need to define. These are your recovery point objectives and your recovery time objectives, or RPO and RTO, respectively.
Your RPO determines how much data you are prepared to lose or, in other words, how up-to-date your backups need to be. Your RTO is all about the recovery process itself, since it defines the maximum amount of time it should take to recover your data and your systems. If, for example, your backups are not readily accessible, you might not be able to meet your recovery goals.
#4. Map your entire network of digital assets
No thanks to the ubiquity of mobile devices and cloud-hosted digital assets, there are more cyberattacks and points of failure than ever before. After all, it’s difficult to look after everything when you have data stored on a mix of local networks, employee-owned smartphones, and cloud-hosted environments.
You need a map of all your digital assets, as well as a centralized dashboard for managing everything. Since every individual system comes with its own set of limitations, risks, and benefits, you’ll likely need to define separate RPOs and RTOs for each one.
#5. Get your business ready for the cloud
Despite the fact that cloud computing now dominates the business IT landscape, many business leaders are still concerned about leaving their data in the care of a third party. However, any dependable cloud provider doesn’t just have a vested interest in keeping your systems secure; they also have access to technologies and expertise that few small businesses could ever hope to implement in-house.
Migrating your business to the cloud, along with a cloud-hosted backup and disaster recovery strategy, lets you take advantage of the latest technology rather than rely on having everything hosted in-house as a single point of failure.
Quicktech helps SMBs in Burnaby, Richmond, Abbotsford, and all other cities of Greater Vancouver get more out of modern technology whether they’re migrating to the cloud or looking to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their in-house networks. Call us today to talk about how we can help your business do better.
Like this article?
Sign up below and once a month we'll send you a roundup of our most popular posts