Did you know that World Backup Day is in just a few short weeks? While it is an important occasion for businesses to recognize, data backup should really be something you think about all the time. This is because your backup is an integral part of the backup and disaster recovery portion of your overall business continuity.
“It won’t happen to me.” This is a common excuse amongst business owners who refuse to equip their network with a comprehensive data backup and recovery solution. They may feel like they’re careful enough to avoid a major data loss-causing disaster. Yet, the inconvenient fact remains that a disaster can happen to any business, no matter how prepared they may be.
Let’s get right to brass tacks. Your business is likely vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks. There are a whole lot of things you should be doing to protect your organization, but this one task is something you can do right now to save your business a lot of stress if something were to take down your network and cause a major disruption. Build an Emergency Contact Sheet as a Part of Your Business Continuity Plan Yep, it sounds simple. In fact, it’s probably something that you already have, but let’s make sure that it’s up-to-date and includes some good information that will help you and your staff in case there is a major disruption to your business. What do we mean by a disruption? Let’s assume you can’t access any of your systems; your line of business apps, your email, your contacts, and the documents on your server. Let’s assume that something big locks you and your staff out of everything for a day or two. It’s not ideal, and obviously we want businesses to work with us to be more prepared for this, and have safeguards in place to prevent this type of threat. Even so, having a really good contact list is going to be key for communication. Open up a Word document and list out the name and personal phone number of each employee, starting with management. Note if that number is a cell phone (so you know which numbers can be texted). Next, list out emergency contact information—the local fire department, police, 911, etc. List out insurance contact information. If you have an alarm company, add them to the list, and other vendors you might need to reach. We recommend adding (646) 741-1166 so you can call us if you need help. Finally, depending on your business, you may want to add some of your biggest, most important clients to that list. You’ll want to contact them first thing and let them know that there may be a disruption of services. If one morning you get alerted that your entire network is down and nobody can access anything, you’ll be so glad you had this. That’s a Good Start, But Business Continuity Doesn’t End There Having a thorough, tested business continuity plan is an important tool for any organization. Communication is key, and you’ll want to be able to keep your staff and customers in the loop if something disrupts your services. At Wolk9IT, we help businesses prepare for emergencies with our iron-clad data backup and disaster recovery services, and we can help protect your business from online threats and other problems that could cause major disruptions. For more information, give us a call today at (646) 741-1166.
It doesn’t matter where your business is located; whether it’s a tornado that rolls through your city, a structural fire that renders your office uninhabitable, or a freak snowstorm that brings down power lines or grinds travel to a halt, you’ll want to be ready for it all. We’ll go over what kinds of solutions your business can implement to ensure that no disaster, be it natural or artificial, like a cyberattack, puts a stop to your operations.
Disasters are more common in the business world than you might think, be they natural disasters that level your office or simple electrical problems that spark a structural fire. A business-threatening disaster could occur at any moment, and it is your responsibility to ensure that it doesn’t put your business’ future at risk. To this end, we recommend you have plans for off-site operations, even if only temporary.
Data breaches are an unfortunate reality in this day and age, even during the holiday season. While it is important to do everything you can to prevent these kinds of disasters, you need to be prepared to deal with it—both in terms of your operations, and in terms of communicating with your clientele.
We’re all aware of the outage that Facebook experienced a few weeks before it announced its Meta rebrand, which prevented users around the world from accessing the services that the social media giant provides. While it may not sound like a huge deal that people couldn’t share their thoughts with one another for a short time, the ramifications stretched far beyond the inability to scroll through a Newsfeed.
No one ever hopes that they have to take advantage of their disaster recovery solution, but it is something that every business needs to have in order to sustain operations even in the worst of times. Understanding how these solutions work, as well as the goals your organization has for them, are critical to recovering post-disaster.