Road to disaster recovery: 7 best practices to help your business bounce back
The past few years have taught us that the world can change in the blink of an eye. So, if you haven’t implemented a disaster recovery plan for your business yet, this is the ideal moment to do so.
Uncertainty has become a cost of doing business. Right now, it’s never been more important for you or your business to be prepared for the unexpected — and for the recovery process that may follow. That’s why it’s critical that you have contingency plans to keep your valuable data safe.
Disaster recovery planning is the optimal way to protect your sensitive data in the event of a crisis. When you have a disaster recovery plan in place, you can stop worrying about cyber attacks or power loss, and you can start getting back to what you do best: growing your business. Alongside your disaster recovery plan, here are 7 important best practices to consider as well.
1. Get your whole team on the same page
It’s crucial for businesses to have an accurate assessment of their requirements and time-sensitive data management needs. Specifically, businesses need to know what time and date frames are allocated to recovering lost data. It’s also vital for their recovery teams to be on the same page when it comes to planning.
2. Make a plan and write it down
Although you can never be fully prepared, having a disaster recovery plan is an incredibly important aspect of any business. It sets a clear course of action for employees should disaster strike. Your clearly articulated plan should detail the various ways an event could unfold, and how your team should respond. You should also check these plans regularly, and update them as your business grows.
3. Do you have backup?
Having your data backed up and accessible means that your business can continue to operate, and you no longer have to worry about the effects of disruption or a service outage. Make sure that you use a premium service that can encrypt and fortify your critical data, keeping it safe from disaster.
4. Make sure both your on-site and off-site IT systems are protected
A ‘backup’ is the copy of your data that you can use if the original copy is lost, deleted, or corrupted. The backup should always be copied on different platforms, so if one fails, you won’t lose all copies. The 3-2-1 rule is easy to remember: 3 copies of data, stored on 2 different types of media, with 1 copy off-site.
5. Automate your disaster recovery processes
The best way to prepare for a crisis is to automate as much of your business as possible. Automating processes from the start will make it much easier to recover in an emergency. In the case of a disaster, you can eliminate time-consuming and error-prone tasks like manually inputting data or setting up IT systems.
6. Test your system before you roll it out
Testing is an important part of the disaster recovery process because DR should be a seamless part of your normal operations, and the only way to ensure that is through rigorous testing. You don’t want to experience disaster recovery for the first time in a real-life situation. Make sure you test everything first.
7. Choose the right Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) partner
There are many DRaaS providers out there, but choosing the right one can be a difficult process. It’s important that you look at your business goals and identify which are the most valuable, so that both your data recovery requirements and potential partner all align.
Recovery, made easy
While disaster may happen at any time, being prepared for it means that its effect can be less damaging. By implementing some simple disaster recovery best practices, you can ensure your business is one step ahead of disaster before it even strikes.
