Powerful Disaster Plan and Business Continuity

By Deney Dentel

Disasters are unpredictable. They can strike at any time and cause irreparable damage. Its devastating effect has questioned the survivability of several business organizations. Studies reveal that more than 25% of companies are closed due to disasters and are never reopened.

You must be aware that business continuity and data availability are the two major aspects of operation and revenue generation of any business enterprise. Hence for continuous existence, you need to prepare for and prevent data loss through a powerful disaster recovery plan. With this level of preparedness and the ability to mitigate risk, you can fight with any catastrophic event.

Need for disaster recovery planning and management:

Businesses have started to recognize the need for an organization to be prepared. Companies take great efforts to facilitate continuous service and meet the demands of customers. A disaster recovery plan is an innovative technological concept that provides you with the insight, planning strategies and best practices to help your business enterprise. Let’s see what they are.

• Aids in maintaining business continuity
• Provides a safe and secure environment for your employees
• Secures your IT infrastructure
• Ensures liquidity and easy access to operating capital

Challenges faced:

When a disaster strikes, it is important that you gather information to sense what is happening. Your overall plan should be written down on a paper, online, in files, and in the cloud. It should be kept in multiple copies, and should be with by multiple people. You should have your entire business operation model in detail.

Nothing is more important to a business continuity plan than a backup/storage server. This is a server that keeps copies and snapshots of every single computerized function, operation, and file within your entire system. It is stored both on this server and an outside secure server, and on the cloud. Redundant backup, often to the extent of multiple redundancies, is considered the best business practice as far as storage servers go. Never underestimate your need for security and planning. Those who plan for disaster will ultimately be able to recover from problems whenever something happens unexpectedly.

Data backup methods:

The next important step is to find out the right data backup method. There are several methods of backing up your data. These methods vary in price, automation and the place where the information is stored. Choosing the right data backup method depends on the kind of data, the budget and the means to meet them. However, there are three methods, namely, pure software, integrated hardware and stand alone solutions. Choose the right method that suits your business requirements.

Benefits and Risks:

A business organization can gain a number of benefits by implementing a powerful disaster recovery plan. They are:

• Rapid recovery of business operations
• Reduction in financial loss, business downtime and interruption
• Safeguarding the company’s reputation, brand and image
• Preventing the loss of customers
• Enhanced confidence of clients, associates, investors and business partners
• Greater protection of assets
• Ensured survival of the organization

However, you also need to consider the three major risks associated with drawing a successful disaster recovery plan. They are hardware issues, networking issues and software issues.

Responding correctly to an emergency is more than just a click. In fact, several business enterprises that have experienced disasters and developed a disaster recovery plan are far more successful in facing unanticipated losses.

Deney Dentel is the CEO at Nordisk Systems, Inc. Nordisk Systems is an IBM Premier Business Partner providing the best solutions on cloud computing, server and storage managed services, virtualization, disaster recovery, and all your IT needs.