Can your business survive an earthquake and a hurricane in one week?
Posted by Melanie Howell on Fri, Aug 26, 2011
Experiencing a fifteen second long earthquake, no cell phone service, torrential rain-storm, four hour long power-outage, and hurricane, all in the matter of one week, can help put the important things of life in perspective!
When danger is looming over your heads and emotions are running high, you feel a sense of urgency to smooth-out unresolved issues in personal relationships and make sure there are no grudges. But what about from a business' perspective? Unfortunately if your business is not well prepared to face a disaster, second-chances can be very expensive.
Statistics suggest that of companies experiencing a major loss of data:
- 25% to 43% never reopen
- 51% close within two years of the loss
- A mere 6% survived over the long term
I asked Bob and Val Aubry, disaster recovery experts at WAC Consulting Group what the basic goals of disaster recovery plans were, and they said:
- To make sure you never lose critical data
- To minimize downtime
- To recover as quickly as possible in the event of a disaster
They pointed out that disaster recovery is not just merely about IT issues. It is about planning for an immediate disaster response, including safety of employees, identification of critical processes, reviewing insurance coverage, disaster prevention and identifying key suppliers and service providers.
How does a business start creating a disaster recovery plan?
Vulnerability Assessment
• Probability
• Potential Impact
List potential threats considering:
• History
• Geography
• Technology
• Building Characteristics
When creating a disaster recovery plan a business should consider human errors, equipment failure, third party failure, environmental hazards, fires, natural disasters, terrorism and sabotage.
Here are 7 basic steps to keep in mind when conducting a disaster-recovery audit for your business:
- Do you have written procedures in place should a disaster occur?
- Does the document contain company names and phone numbers for each category of your business? (i.e. phone, electric, gas, insurance company, etc)
- Is the document kept offsite?
- Is there a team in place to handle the next step after a disaster?
- Do you currently have offsite storage?
- How do you obtain a copy of the backup should there be a disaster? Are their multiple restore points?
- What are your current backup procedures for your workstations and server?
Follow these seven simple steps to start making your business disaster-proof! For a more detailed/personalized discussion on disaster recovery planning for your business, contact our disaster recovery experts Bob and Val Aubry at WAC Consulting Group today!
Lessons learned: Don't wait for a disaster to let your family and friends know that you care, create a disaster recovery plan for your business and be thankful for second chances!
Some great online resources to get more information on disaster recovery planning are: