Reasons Why You Need a Data Recovery Plan

Do you have a plan in place in the event of a data breach or other disaster? You should. Here are the reasons why you need a data recovery plan.

Most businesses don’t give much consideration to their data recovery plan, but they should. Computers are sophisticated machines operated by fallible humans, on sometimes ill-maintained infrastructure, and influenced by a multitude of external factors.

Your company has a vested interest in both the technology and the information on them; you need them to keep your business successful. This means you should be prepared for everything from cybersecurity threats, to natural disasters, and even human errors. 

Being Prepared Reduces Recovery Time

When it comes to bad things happening, it isn’t a matter of if; it is a matter of when. Let’s be perfectly honest; sometimes, stuff happens. Ignoring the fact doesn’t prevent it from occurring, but it can make things worse when it does. When it pertains to your business, being prepared is a necessity. The alternative is that a minor annoyance can become a disaster.

The best thing that any business can do is to protect your network from the possibility of a system failure. You need to know what to do if your system goes down. The simple steps that you take today can make a huge difference when a catastrophe occurs. A good start for any business is to create a disaster recovery plan.

The organization is one of the most critical factors for having an effective disaster recovery strategy. The poor organization makes finding precisely what you need when you need it difficult. Not knowing what to do or where to find things can cost you precious time, and that is something you cannot afford to lose.

A Data Recovery Plan Saves Money

Insurance will replace your physical assets, but it won’t restore lost data. How much is your data worth? Depending on what kind of data was lost, it could be worth more than the physical assets. Think about lost contracts, research, customer information, and tax records, to name a few possibilities.

Reduce Legal Exposure

The word audit might be a dirty word most of the time, but not always. There are a lot of reasons to have an audit. There is the apparent reason that the IRS may need to scrutinize your records. Because of tax laws, businesses are required to keep records of all their transactions for a specific number of years. The government will not accept any excuses for lost data, so protecting your tax records is a priority.

Companies also perform internal audits for several reasons. While the chances of receiving an IRS audit are low, it is good practice to double-check records to ensure compliance and that all your employees are honest.

Recover From Natural Disasters

Natural disasters can strike at any time, bringing with them several complications. Power outages, floods, earthquakes, lightning strikes, and fires can damage equipment and cause data losses. It isn’t enough to have an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) hooked up to your servers. Your data needs protection both on and off-site to prevent both internal and external threats from affecting business.

Fire and Construction Damage

Fires can start from lots of sources, some natural and some not. If a fire does start the destruction can be immense, and not all of the damage will be from the fire. Water, heat, and smoke can be equally destructive to fragile electronics like computers and servers.

Fires aren’t the only kind of structural damage that causes businesses concern. Building infrastructure can fail in several ways, including the catastrophic failure of electrical systems, water/sewer lines, HVAC, and communication systems.

Electrical spikes, heat, improper grounding, and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) can cause widespread equipment failure. If the equipment doesn’t fail right away from an event, exposure can weaken equipment causing sudden failure during later use. All of these factors can lead to hardware problems.

Hardware and Software Failures

Eventually, it happens to every computer; they get old. It happens to everything. No matter how good the equipment it will age and fall apart. That is another reason why it is crucial to have multiple backups.

The software can also cause data to be lost. Operating systems and software are updated continually, and often those updates cause more issues than they fix. The software company doesn’t care if it inconveniences your business, but your customers won’t accept that as an excuse.

Oops, What Now?

People make mistakes; there is no getting around it. All it takes is for one person to hit the wrong button at just the right moment, and suddenly you have lost hours of hard work. Doing good business means using your employee time efficiently. You can’t afford to waste time reworking projects because you didn’t back up your data.

Cyber Crimes and Viruses

According to the FBI statistics on cybercrimes, billions of dollars are lost every year rebuilding and restructuring the damage done by cybercriminals. Viruses that can destroy computers, networks, and servers are just the tip of the iceberg. Terrorism, corporate espionage, identity theft, and ransomware have all become part of a growing list of concerns.

Not only can your company lose essential data from these kinds of attacks; you could lose your reputation. When customers have their identity stolen or necessary research is lost, then it is your companies reputation on the line. That is why you need to put your data on encrypted servers.

Customer Service

Excellent customer service is essential no matter what kind of business you employ. Customer service is what keeps customers coming back and what gets them to recommend your services. Backing up your data is just one part of having excellent customer service. 

If you lose their information or blow a contract because you didn’t have a data recovery plan, then you may lose more than the revenue from a job. You could lose a loyal customer. 

Competitive Advantage

Give yourself a competitive advantage over your competitors by creating a data recovery plan. Nothing can replace a reputation for reliable service, and when disaster happens and you still deliver on your promises customers will notice. That is how a good reputation becomes an excellent reputation.

No one cares about a hero from a story that makes an uneventful journey and saves the day without facing any obstacles. What makes any story memorable is the struggle to succeed, the obstacles overcome, or the opposition defeated.

Your reputation is your story and succeeding where others fail will earn the respect of your peers. Building a reputation is hard work, and becoming successful only happens with excellent planning. Create your data recovery plan now.

Don’t forget to bookmark our site to never miss our latest posts!