What happens to your business in the event of a disaster? How do you bounce back? To secure proper business continuity, whatever the weather, you need a disaster recovery plan.
Read on for seven signs that tell you it’s time to implement a cloud disaster recovery solution within your disaster recovery (DR) plan.
Your business is not prepared for disasters from within
When you think of disasters occurring in relation to your business, it’s tempting just to focus on external factors. However, this could leave you exposed to a multitude of problems from within your organization. Research published by Veritis found that only 23% of disaster incidences are actually caused by external security breaches, with almost three-quarters of incidents originating from within. Make sure that you are prepared for any issues within your own IT architecture or elsewhere within the company.
You can’t remember the last time you tested your disaster recovery plan
Putting a disaster recovery plan in place should not be cause for “resting on your laurels”. Instead, this should be just the beginning. Your field is ever-changing and evolving, which means the risks you face are changing and evolving too. Make sure to test your DR plan regularly, to make sure it is up to scratch and able to support you as you move towards growth.
You can identify too many “fair weather” elements
You can’t expect the hands of fate to be lenient in the event of a disaster, and so your plan needs to be watertight. Try this as an experiment: describe your disaster recovery plan and protocols verbally, at length. Any instance in which you need to say “unless,” “as long as,” “provided that,” or any other conditional allowance for your plan is a weak spot. Make sure that these weak spots are eliminated.
You meet the minimum regulatory requirement, nothing more
The regulations are great. They make sure that all businesses maintain a base level of responsibility and care in how they operate, and they provide protection to the consumer. However, they are a minimum standard — and we really mean a minimum standard. Make these regulatory requirements your baseline and work from there.
You rely too much on untested protocols
If the disaster recovery plan you have in place has not been means tested, it is not battle-ready. And if it is not battle-ready, you have no idea what is going to happen when it’s time for action. As many as 93% of businesses without an effective DR plan will be put out of business if they are hit by a catastrophe, so the seriousness of the situation cannot be understated. Unless you have a whole lot of resources at your disposal for developing your solutions, make sure everything you are using is tried and tested.
Your disaster recovery plans are not people-focused
It’s a cliche, but it’s a cliche because it’s true: your business needs to be people-focused. And this includes your disaster recovery plan. You might have software solutions and other disaster recovery measures set up and in place, but what about your personnel; do they know what to do? Making sure your teams understand exactly what is required of them during the recovery process, and aid them with cloud-based support.
You have no remote Plan B
It is possible that your team members will not be able to approach work in the same way, for example, if a crisis makes office-based work impossible. This is where you must embrace the potential of remote work. Without a cloud solution in place, this is simply impossible and could cost you dearly.
A disaster doesn’t have to shutter your business’s doors. Heed the warnings above, implement a cloud disaster recovery plan, and if the worst-case scenario actually happens, you’ll be capable of dealing with it.