Having a disaster recovery plan in place for your IT infrastructure is important for any business, no matter what the size. Many business owners, especially those with small businesses, don’t think about what would happen to their data if an unplanned disaster were to occur. Others don’t want to take on the cost of planning ahead because it is not an immediate issue. 

Tips to ensure the least amount of down time:

Knowledge. Know exactly what systems and functions are essential to the everyday operations of your business. These are the functions you will need to protect the most but also the ones that you will need to focus on repairing and getting back up after a disaster.

Offsite Backups. Store your recovery data offsite or with a cloud based system. Onsite backup are only helpful if your computer or your server crashes. If there is a flood or a fire or some other event that destroys all of the equipment onsite you will lose your backups along with your primary system.

Plan Ahead. Test your backup plan before a disaster occurs. While it is good to have a plan in place, it is just as important to make sure that this plan will work when you need it to.

Hiring an outside company to set up your disaster recovery plan is the best way to prepare for an unexpected system failure of any kind. An I.T. professional will be able to assist you in putting together the right business continuity plan to keep your business running. The cost associated with this is always less expensive than trying to pick up the pieces and start over after the disaster has already happened. Being prepared to recover your system after an incident will not only save your company time and money, but it will also lower your chances losing clients.