
Unfortunately, many businesses do not realize how important having a Disaster Recovery Plan is, until it is too late. Every company should have a plan for handling IT demands following a natural disaster. Here are some thoughts on developing a plan for your company.
Selecting a Consultant to Work With
When developing a plan, few companies have the resources in house to create a comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan. Most businesses must outsource the work to a Disaster Recovery Consultant in the IT field. This consultant should work with your business to create a customized Disaster Recovery Plan. Every businesses needs are different, and a Consultant should be willing to invest the time to develop a plan that is tailored to both your specific industry and company.
Components of a Disaster Recovery Plan
Although every company will have unique needs, there are a few components that should be part of every Disaster Recovery Plan. The exact implementation of these may vary, but all of the following should be in place:
- Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Software that lets you create, maintain and execute (if necessary) the Disaster Recovery Plan
- A root cause recovery analyses that determines what Infrastructure was affected by the disaster
- A solution that follows the entire lifecycle of a business and includes all its data
- A means of quickly accessing offsite data, if backups are kept at another location
- Tiered protection of data, so confidential information is not compromised in a disaster
- Regular backup & duplication, so the backup files are not outdated
- Matching onsite and offsite infrastructure, to enable a quick recovery
- Mobile or remote access, to ensure business continuity while the Infrastructure is repaired
A well-crafted Disaster Recovery Plan for a business IT Infrastructure will protect information and return the business to normal operations as quickly as possible. It will ensure business continuity at every tier and in every part of a business immediately following a disaster. Taking the time to develop a plan today could save your company in a disaster tomorrow. There are many things businesses must overcome in a disaster, and having a Disaster Recovery Plan in place for the IT Infrastructure will alleviate one source of distress.