The Importance of Disaster Recovery

Any number of events can lead to a disaster. Whether it’s a flood, fire, hurricane, tornado, human error, or cybercriminal attack, having a disaster recovery plan in place for any scenario is the only way to ensure your business won’t get derailed.

As a cautionary tale, consider the companies that failed to effectively implement a disaster recovery plan — in many cases, loss of data access for 10 days or more resulted in bankruptcy within a year of the event.

Testing the Recovery Plan

The only way to truly know if your disaster recovery plan is going to work is to test it. Once you have your recovery plan set up, you’ll test it to see if you’re able to get back online in the desired amount of time, because seconds count when your entire operation is down and you’re waiting to regain access to critical data. But you can’t stop there — you have to maintain a regular testing program to account for any and all changes that occur within a system, that is constantly evolving with new hardware, software, and updates.

It’s not unusual for disgruntled employees to sabotage your system. Let’s say an employee is fired and you’ve disabled their ability to access your system. What if they have an open connection that’s been running all along? They can still access your system and sabotage your workflow, which is a scenario that has to be accounted for in your disaster recovery plan.

Techniques to Use

Get your entire team on board and do a walk-through of your disaster recovery plan to make sure everyone completely understands what will occur when a disaster happens, what their role will be, and how they’ll do it. Walkthroughs are vastly revealing because you get the opportunity to pick your plan apart and figure out where you’re lacking and how you can improve.

You can even simulate a disaster and actually have everyone jump on the tasks they’re assigned to, which gives an added layer of preparedness to the plan. Teams that perform these simulations are better able to solve issues faster and with fewer consequences than those who fail to simulate disasters and fumble when it comes time to act.

Don’t get caught unaware; partner with a qualified agent to ensure you’re not missing out on tools and solutions that will lead to a well-rounded recovery plan. At Net Tel One Communications, our goal is to protect you at all times with innovative solutions. Contact us, and let’s talk about scenarios you’re likely to encounter and how you can rise above any disaster.

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