Business Continuity

Not Just Data Backup Anymore

How well will your business do in a crisis? How long could you go without your server, email, data, internet or applications? A day, an hour?

Have you even thought of what disaster could befall you and what you would do about it? Chances are, not really. I mean you do data backups regularly (right??) and you may even back them up to the internet (cloud), but have you ever thought of what to do in specific situations?

Internet Crash

Like…what happened to a local business. Over time they became dependent on emails to do business. It happened slowly…they went from written orders…to telephone…to fax…then to email. One day their internet connection went down and they could not get emails. Suddenly, they couldn’t get their orders and had to race around trying to find a way to tell customers how to reach them and leave the building to get any kind of internet connection to some email address like gmail or MSN. The outage lasted all day and it hurt their business.

What could they have done to prevent it? Nothing, really, except to let it not affect them. A simple fix is to have two methods of communication like T-1 and cable. Then when one fails, the other can take the load. It doesn’t have to be expensive and there are other benefits as well like faster speeds and more capacity. Don’t do T-1 and DSL, or two cable connections, for example, because if one goes down, the other is likely to as well and won’t provide the protection you are looking for.

Specifically with email, there are ways to ensure delivery even when your company internet connection is down, and they’ll all be available when the crisis is over (no interruption). We call this service IntelleMail a managed service that actively prevents Spam, Spyware and other malware from even getting to your firewall much less your servers or workstations. It can also keep your email in case of a disaster and quietly allow access from anywhere should the need arise. It will also logically restore all your email back to your system after a problem.

Data and Server Crash

Another company was religiously backing up their data every night. This continued for about a year. One day they needed to restore some of this data and found that though the backups were running nightly, they apparently weren’t writing the data to the backup devices and only old data was available for restoration.

In another case, a company’s server went down and was out of service for most of a day. All orders are electronically submitted, so nothing could be done for most of a day.

IntelleBackup is another managed service that can ensure that backups are running properly and can even create your service in the cloud at a moment’s notice. In both the above cases IntelleBackup would have prevented the interruptions in service and loss of business. It is inexpensive insurance.

Below are some tips to help you create your own Business Continuity Plan.

5 Tips For Creating a Business Continuity Plan
Is your business prepared for any type of disaster.  If your business office were to be destroyed by a tornado, fire or flood, you could lose valuable business if you don’t plan ahead. Many businesses don’t want to take the time and the expense to prepare a business continuity plan, but can you really afford not to make one?

Make a List of All Possible Disasters
The best place to start is to list different types of disasters and try to determine what could be lost in each case, and what you can do to prevent that loss. A flood will require different strategies from a power outage or a fire. Next, try to estimate how long it would take, and how much it would cost, for you to get your business up and running again.

Communication
The middle of a crisis is not the time to frantically search for phone numbers. Even small businesses need emergency contact numbers. Have all emergency contact numbers posted or programmed into every phone. Do you have an alternate mode of communication should your main phone lines shut down? Could your clients seamlessly contact you without ever knowing that your office was in the middle of disaster recovery? The same principal applies to email and fax. Making arrangements regarding communication are critical to keeping your business running smoothly. Communicating with staff and clients can mean the difference between complete shutdown, or minimal a business interruption.

Preserving Your Data
In the event of a disaster, it is important to know that everything you need to function as a business is available. Identify all vital systems, documents, and data. While it is important for every business to backup their data on a regular basis, what if a fire destroyed your office? For this reason, offsite storage is critical to preserving your business’ valuable information. Offsite data storage allows to access to all of your stored data from any computer and from anywhere in the world.

A Temporary Worksite
It is also important to plan for a temporary worksite. Depending on the goods or services your business offers, can you continue smooth operation if your office is shut down? Storing products in a second location can allow you to maintain your regular business schedule.

Test Your Plan
One of the keys to successful disaster recovery is testing your business continuity plan on a regular basis. It is important that you and your staff know exactly what to do, where to go, and how to access the necessary items you need to keep your business running smoothly to the outside world, even if you are standing in the middle of a disaster. Schedule regular plan tests to ensure that everyone in your office is on the same page and ready should disaster strike. Hopefully, you will never have to use your business continuity plan, but it is smart business to be prepared for any emergency should one arise.