Surviving the Storm: Tips for Disaster Protection From an IT Expert

Most businesses, especially small and medium-sized businesses with limited technology budgets, aren’t ready for a disaster, and it’s not just about fires or floods.

Here are some statistics that might make you think twice about your current data backup and disaster recovery plan:

• According to Fortinet, ransomware is expected to experience a 30% year-over-year growth over the next decade, with damages expected to exceed $265 billion annually by 2031.
• In addition to storms, floods, and other natural catastrophes, disasters like power surges, accidental file deletion, and corrupted drives cost thousands of dollars in damage every day. As reported by Visa, downtime costs businesses $9,000 per minute, on average.
• Many businesses think they’re backing up their data, only to discover that their last backup was six months ago (or longer) when a disaster strikes. Regular testing is a key component of a comprehensive business continuity plan.

Step 1 – Assess Your Risks and Data Needs

Determining your data storage needs is the first step to creating a data backup and disaster recovery plan.

You can start this step by assessing your current data storage situation. How much data do you currently have stored, and how is that data being used? Be sure to include all data types, including databases, files, emails, and multimedia content.

You’ll also want to assess your current data backup and disaster recovery budget.

After understanding your current data storage needs, estimate your data storage needs for the next few years. Be sure to account for business expansion plans, potential new data sources, and your business’s data usage and storage trends. If you’re unsure how to estimate your data storage needs, a managed services provider (MSP) can help.

Finally, you must consider your data retention and access requirements to determine your data storage needs. How long do you need to store your data, and who determines your retention policy? Some industries have regulatory requirements for data, while others have an internal policy. Many businesses, especially small and mid-sized organizations, have no policy at all. Also, you need to account for who has access to data and how often they will access it. This facet of your business is crucial in determining and estimating your data storage needs.

Step 2 – Create Redundant Backups (Cloud and Local)

Regarding backing up your data, we recommend taking a multilayered approach to your data storage and recovery strategy. A multilayered approach to your business continuity plan helps ensure that you’ll have access to your data no matter when or where the disaster strikes, whether you’re in the office or working remotely.

Every business should have a cloud-based data backup solution as part of its data backup and recovery plan. Having a redundant data center geographically located in a different area from your primary data center ensures you can quickly restore your data and resume operations in case a disaster affects your physical location. A cloud-based backup solution also ensures that your operations can continue if a disaster ruins your business’s hardware.

Cloud backup solutions are fantastic, but even large-scale data centers can succumb to sudden failures. In addition to a cloud-based backup solution, we recommend a local, on-site data backup solution. Create a local backup of your essential data and keep a copy in a secure secondary location.

As part of your physical backup plan, be sure to schedule regular data backups. Smart businesses automate their backup solutions so they’re always prepared when a disaster strikes. Develop a schedule that ensures your critical data is backed up regularly—depending on your business needs, your schedule may include daily, weekly, and/or monthly backups.

Furthermore, if you operate in an area where disasters peak during a particular season—think tornado season in the Midwest—consider scheduling your data backups to occur more often during certain times of the year.

Step 3 – Build a Step-by-Step Disaster Recovery Plan

What’s a disaster recovery plan? Your disaster recovery plan is your business’s guide to restoring data when a disaster happens. In general, the plan should include:

• List of key employees responsible for data restoration
• Communication plan
• Procedures for data restoration

This step is a crucial part of the process for any business wanting to develop a business continuity plan that works—we recommend a thorough disaster recovery plan with clearly defined processes and responsibilities. For example, in your restoration plan, you should outline all the steps you need to take to recover from a potential disaster, including who should be responsible for each step and which tools and resources you will need.

In your communication plan, establish who will communicate with employees, customers, and stakeholders in the event of a disaster, including up-to-date contact information for key personnel and stakeholders.

Step 4 – Test, Test, and Test Again

Regularly testing your backups is essential to any adequate data backup and recovery plan. A worst-case scenario can happen immediately after a disaster occurs. Picture this: you think you’ve protected your data, but since you didn’t test it beforehand, you discover the backup hasn’t been updated in over a year, and you’re missing a ton of essential files.

How often should you test your backups?

The frequency of reviewing and testing your disaster recovery plan depends on your business and the amount of data you need to test. Some companies opt to rely on the plan and update it annually. Others opt for full-scale testing, including tabletop exercises and disaster simulations.

As part of the testing process, it’s vital that all responsible parties are aware of and educated on their role in the disaster recovery process.

Step 5 – Stay Informed and Adapt

Technology is a fast-paced industry, and the services and solutions available based on your needs and budget can change drastically year over year.

One of the biggest disasters threatening small and medium-sized businesses is cyberattacks. Risk assessments can be a valuable part of your business’s testing and maintenance process. Additionally, compliance regulations, like GDPR and HIPAA, are constantly being updated—staying informed about the latest regulations is critical to ensure that your data backup and recovery plan is compliant and up-to-date.

When disaster hits, you don’t want to be alone. Some businesses try to manage their entire data backup and disaster recovery strategy in-house, but here’s what they often miss:

Remember—a proactive approach to data backup and recovery planning can save your business from significant losses, downtime, and frustration. In following this 5-step process of assessing your risks, backing up your data, developing a disaster recovery plan, testing and maintenance, and staying informed, you can increase the resilience and redundancy of your IT systems, minimize data loss, and ensure the continuity of your business operations.

As an MSP, High Touch can help you build a robust data backup and recovery plan that fits your business’s unique needs. Contact us to learn more about our Managed IT Services offerings, including data backup and recovery, for your organization.