5 Things You MUST do Before Disaster Strikes
Does your company have a Business Continuity Plan? You know, the “what do we do if our network falls apart” kind of plan? If not, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, most businesses run day in and day out never considering that making a list of who to call and what to do when disaster strikes their network should be a priority. They know who to call and what to do if they find a leaky faucet, but if the server goes down in the middle of the night, their hands are in the air!
If you aren’t planning ahead, the stress and cost of lost productivity from your work force can quite literally cost you thousands.
This is a quick checklist you can use to get a plan in place to make sure you can get back up and running:
- Write a plan and keep it updated. This sounds so obvious, but it’s why you are reading this article, because you don’t have one, right? But this is so true. Simply having a written list of who to call, what to do and how to do it will go a long way. Start out by thinking in advance of what needs to happen to keep the bare minimum of your daily workflow going. What process does your company use every day that if it were to come to a grinding halt, would prevent you from making money? Or worse, COST you money. Think about who the principal people are in your business that you need working to keep things flowing even in the worst circumstances. Then, think about what they do each day and what their jobs entail. Writing these things down will allow you to come up with at least a starting point for you and your IT consultant to figure out what a true backup and disaster recovery plan (BDR) would be for your business.
- Hire a professional IT company. The worst has already happened. Your business is down… and you can feel the money leaving your pockets. However, now is not the time for bargain shopping. We all love a deal, but right now you need professional help and that doesn’t always come with a “half- off sale”. When looking for assistance you’ll find that we aren’t always cheap, but we are good and any professional IT service provider will have references with other clients they’ve helped in a similar situation. Look for a company that has not only created and customized disaster recovery plans for other businesses but has actually restored data for others. Hiring an IT pro will improve your data recovery odds drastically and will get you back up and running faster.
- Create and Automate your Backups. The number one reason we’re called to perform a data restoration is from accidental user deletion. Remove the human element. Make sure you have a backup in place that is scheduled daily and runs automatically. Ideally, a complete image of your server. That image gives you a complete snapshot so if necessary, we could completely re-create the server if it went down.
- Network Documentation. Having the topology of your network laid out is critical if you have to restore it back to its original functioning order. Just think about all the printers, servers, configuration settings, emails settings, folder shares, firewall settings, remote users, usernames, passwords etc. The list goes on and on. Have an IT professional at Computek perform a Network Assessment. A true professional can provide you with a complete blueprint of your company’s assets. If you had to re-create everything from the ground up having this one piece of documentation would be priceless.
- Test and Test again. The only way you know your backups are happening and that your data is truly safe is if you are performing regular tests. Most people try the “set it and forget it” method. They hire someone to setup and configure a backup and then they just cross their fingers and hope it works! If you are going to go through the trouble to set it up, have a professional test it. You want an IT pro that can take your backups and actually restore them in a real world scenario. A true disaster and recovery pro will take your backups and perform a bare metal restore. Giving you peace of mind that your data is recoverable and safe.