Computer Cents

By Bob Milliken

…that learned how to ensure their business can be back up and running again fast in the event of an unexpected disaster.

Let’s face it—downtime is depressing, frustrating and downright dumb since it can so easily be avoided. You can’t afford to lose business and customers because of failed computer systems. Disasters that wipe out businesses are NOT just limited to a fire, flood or hurricane. Today, cyber-attacks, stolen data, key vendor/supplier failure, disgruntled employees and even simple human error can cause major disruptions to your business, costing you thousands of dollars in damages, lost customers, downtime, and possibly even litigation – if you are not prepared.

 

In my experience, a lot of business owners erroneously believe that because they have a copy of their data somewhere that they already have a recovery plan in place and could be back up and running again fast. Not true. After working with many small and mid-size businesses throughout the lower mainland area, I found that most of the business owners do NOT have a reliable backup of their data and do NOT know how or what they would do in the event of a data-erasing disaster. They simply “hope” their backup is working and that it will save their monkey when disaster strikes.

 

This “hope” approach is incredible when you consider how dependent businesses are on information – be it client databases, accounting records, e-mails, pictures, inventory, blueprints, intellectual capital, and other work products – almost all processes in a business rely on the availability of digital information.

 

The cost of losing that information (or being without it for an extended period of time) is hard to accurately quantify since it affects so many aspects of a business. But I do know this: 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster, and 50% filed for bankruptcy immediately.

 

If you’re smart, you already have some type of backup system in place. That’s good, but remember backup alone does not constitute a disaster recovery plan. Data backup is only ONE aspect of what’s really important: disaster recovery, or your ability to restore the data in a usable format quickly and painlessly. This is one of the most critical characteristics of any disaster recovery plan – and one that is often overlooked. Don’t wait until your data has been wiped out to test your backup; run regular test restores to validate the integrity of the backup. You’ll sleep a lot easier at night knowing you have a good, solid copy of your data available in the event of an unforeseen disaster or emergency.

 

 

Need some help with your backup? Read my latest mini-book, “10 Disaster Planning Essentials For Every Small Business”. To get your complimentary copy, use your smartphone and text “QRDISPLAN” to 76000 or give us a call – 604.270.1730, and we’ll help you design your perfect backup system.

 

Your comments are appreciated – ComputerCents@CascadiaSystemsGroup.com

 

Folio: Computer Cents – Post EYE2014 – Backup Disaster Recovery – Nov 12