If you have a nasty habit of putting things off in your day-to-day life (who doesn’t), the result might be a bit of personal disappointment and some lip-service about turning a new leaf. But in today’s hyper-connected business world, waiting just a moment too long might have disastrous consequences for your entire workplace. With National Procrastination Week coming up, it’s time to force yourself to reckon with a few worst-case scenarios for your business by creating what’s known as a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).
WHAT IS A DISASTER RECOVER PLAN?
A Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP), also known as a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a set of procedures designed that can be executed during an emergency scenario to keep your business up and running.
WHY DO I NEED ONE?
The days where information technology (IT) was simply one contained aspect of business are long gone. Today, chances are IT touches every aspect of your operation, and any significant disruption could lead to company-wide disarray.
Additionally, customers nowadays are less accepting of downtime. In many verticals, even a few minutes of disruption could lead clients to look elsewhere and never return. It is well documented that significant downtime can result in loss of business and irreparable damage to a company’s reputation. Unfortunately, many companies that are affected in this manner never recover.
Business leaders often mistakenly believe that having backups is the same as having a contingency plan in place for when things go wrong. It is not. Backups alone will not significantly reduce downtime in the event of a natural disaster or a power failure. Simply put, you must take a hard look at each aspect of your business and create a plan for how your business would function in a worst-case scenario to protect your bottom line.
WHERE DO I START?
Assess the Risks
Start thinking about all the possible scenarios that could destroy your ability to function. Are you at sea level and at risk of flooding? If there was a power failure, do you have backup power? Make a list of all the most crucial aspects of your specific business and begin to identify all the ways in which they are vulnerable.
Make a List of Critical Employees
Your business isn’t just a collection of data and a few desktop computers. It’s a collection of highly-skilled people who function as a team. Try to imagine all the scenarios in which your decision-makers might be unable to communicate with each other and devise a plan for a chain of command if things fall apart.
Create a Plan
Now it’s time to be proactive and come up with some solutions. Create a budget for solutions so you can prioritize and spend wisely. Make sure you implement the best possible protection to avoid trouble. Follow that up with backups and contingency plans in case your protections fail. Finally, document your efforts, so you have a clear procedure for your team to follow when they need to know what to do.
Share It
None of these steps will matter if you haven’t communicated all the pertinent details to every single employee. Print up your plan, call a meeting and spread the word. Then follow this up with regular training, so everyone is as ready as possible if and when disaster strikes.
WHO CAN HELP?
If you’re struggling to find the time to implement a comprehensive business continuity or disaster recovery plan or are having trouble wrapping your head around the intricacies involved, consider hiring a dedicated Managed Service Provider (MSP). An MSP like Divergys can jump in immediately, assign expert IT professionals to assess your situation, and quickly develop a full proof plan. If you feel like you might need help, contact Divergys today to find out more about how we can help.
