With the recent events taking place in the Caribbean and areas of the south due to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, this is a good time to either setup a (DRP) disaster recovery plan, or make sure your current DRP is updated. A disaster recovery plan is a documented set of procedures to recover and protect a business IT infrastructure in case of an environmental, or man-made disaster. The plan specifies the process to follow when an organization is facing an extreme or dire situation that may potentially disrupt or stop business. The goal of the DRP is to recover information technology data, assets and facilities.
Organizations cannot always avoid imminent threats to their IT infrastructure, however with careful planning the damage can be minimized. The primary objective of your DRP in the event that operations and computer systems are unusable, is to mitigate business disruption, and ensure recovery in a organized and systemic fashion. Below we outlined some tips to help you get started with your disaster recovery plan:
Basics:
The creation of a disaster recovery plan can easily overwhelm an organization and the leaders that are conceiving it. Start off with the basics of your plan and outline a few details that will give you an idea of your objectives. A DRP is a fluid document that will have additions over time and as your infrastructure matures. Define the most critical aspects to keep your business running such as email, application access, database backups, computer equipment and the timing it will require to get business up-and-running after the disaster occurs. Also, make sure you have proper announcements in place, to notify your staff, and more importantly to keep your clients informed.
Testing:
In a recent survey, 89% of organizations who have a disaster recovery plan only test it once-a-year or not at all. The only way your DRP is a success in case of an actual disaster, is making sure it operates efficiently by frequent testing. Schedule different disaster scenarios that test the different methods of recovery for your company. Make it an “all hands” event to ensure employee participation. Using simulated events to execute your DRP not only reinforces the protocols and rules to follow, but allows you to verify your processes in case you need to alter your strategy.
Off-Site Data Backup and Storage:
Redundancy cannot be stressed enough in case of an event that threatens to shut down mission-critical systems. One of an organizations primary concerns should be the protection of data, and making sure that you have an off-site location to store your most valuable information. Make sure your DRP has a protocol in place that backs up and transfers your most important data securely offsite. Every company should have a “recovery point objective” or RPO, which is the time between the last available backup and when a disruption could possibly occur. The RPO should be based on tolerance for loss of data or reentering of data, and companies should perform daily backups if not more for continuous data protection.
Consider a Managed Services Provider:
Managed service providers or MSPs have emerged to become a valuable asset in disaster recovery planning. Many companies despite their size, lack the technical professionals and time to execute the creation and frequent testing to maintain a DRP. MSPs not only have the staff, but the technical expertise to design, implement and manage complex disaster recovery projects for small, medium and large sized businesses. Additionally, MSPs have the servers, storage and network infrastructure to truly manage all aspects of a DRP, while keeping costs manageable and allowing you to focus on your core areas of business.
Fidelus Technologies, based out of New York City is a Professional and Managed Information Technology Services company focused on customer success and business efficiency . Our services provide seamless networking, data center, wireless, security and unified communications expertise for enterprise businesses. We have a consultative life cycle approach that includes requirements gathering, assessments, solution design, planning, project management, engineering, adoption and evolution (training) services to fully support the IT needs of your organization.
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