Creating an IT disaster plan is vital in this age of digitization. Accessing the data you need for your business is critical to running your company, but have you given any thought as to what exactly you will do in the event of a loss of such data?
No one likes to think of something going, but cyber attacks, natural disasters, and more can all result in a loss of data and a massive expense to retrieve anything you have lost.
Creating a thorough IT disaster plan can help you to get back up and running quicker.
Risk analysis
What’s most likely to be a threat to your company? Is it via a natural disaster, or are you concerned it could be a technical malfunction, disgruntled employee, human error, or a cybersecurity threat? IT consulting in Indiana can help you identify your potential threats and work towards creating your plan.
Critical Assets
At this point, identify your key assets and applications. What you need as a bare minimum to get back up and running should be a priority and something you are aware of before you need to be aware of it. this could be;
- Phone lines
- Cash registers
- Websites
- Vehicles
- Customer/client records
- Machinery
- Utilities
How are you going to access this in the event of a natural disaster? Your plan needs to contain steps to gain access to your critical assets to get you back up and running.
Backups
Part of an IT disaster plan is creating backups of your files. This needs to be done regularly so you have up-to-date files and all the information you need. Your backups need to be ideally on an external hard drive stored at a separate location to allow for ease of access that can be used in the event of anything wrong. Managed IT services can assist you with appropriate backup and instigate a recovery process.
Communication
Communication is key in an emergency, and you should ensure all of your staff are well trained and know exactly what is expected of them and the company at the onset of different situations.
Nominate a key contact who is in charge of enacting the plan and recovery process. Make sure you have up-to-date contact details for everyone and critical services to contact. Create more than one plan for different natural disasters that could hinder employees from working and know what will happen should this occur.
Test Your Plan
Routinely test your plan and recovery procedure. Run exercises to test your procedures and see how well they work in each scenario. Use past incidents of emergencies if this has happened before to look at what will and won’t work and adapt our plan to ensure a smooth process as much as possible. Consult with your IT company to make sure your IT disaster plan covers all bases and for advice on how best to protect yourself and recover your data and systems in the event of a disaster.
Risk assessment needs to be carried out periodically to ensure your plans are suitable in the face of emergencies and you can get back up as quickly and smoothly as possible.