Business Continuity Planning

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What Is A Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan?

Most businesses and organizations in and around Langley BC now know the importance of having ready and secure access to their data. But what many don’t realise is that unless you backup data to a secure enterprise-based cloud solution, you can still lose it. Onsite backups can be destroyed or lost. Digital information stored in a secure data centre will be there whenever you need it.

First, before we say anything more here, it’s important that you know that a business continuity and disaster recovery plan must be developed and implemented before a disaster occurs. Unfortunately, many consider this too late and after a disaster has occurred.

The report below reveals that some business owners in Canada aren’t taking this seriously.

A survey by mid-market B2B telecom company TeraGo Inc.(TSX:TGO) and market intelligence firm IDC Canada, called “What’s the Weakest Link in DR plans?” revealed the state of Canadian enterprise IT readiness when it comes to disaster recovery.

The report found that 81% aren’t testing their disaster recovery plans to industry standards. This can spell disaster for a company’s bottom line in the event of an unexpected IT infrastructure failure.

A reliable backup and recovery solution is critical to ensure business operations are functional in the event of power outages or office closures, so you can continue to provide services to clients, patients, suppliers, regulators, and others you do business with.

Designing Your Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan (BDR)

• A Business Continuity Plan enables critical services to be continually delivered to your customers. It ensures that your critical operations can continue.
• A Disaster Recovery Plan deals with recovering your IT assets after a devastating interruption.

You should start with an enterprise-based onsite backup along with a secure cloud backup. To do this, you can utilize services like virtualization where a cloned version of your entire IT infrastructure is stored in a secure data center. This includes your servers, desktops, file storage, and applications. The reason this is preferable for many organizations is that a virtualized network can be replicated in a matter of minutes rather than hours or days.

Your BDR Plan should include:

• Regular onsite backups of all servers and critical business systems.
• Offsite backups of data to a secure cloud backup facility.
• Cloud virtualization services that allow for fast recovery when a serious failure, disaster, or outage occurs.
• Regular replication testing to ensure your IT infrastructure can be recovered reliably.

With these protections in place, you and your authorized employees will be able to access your systems from any location where you have internet access if your office is closed.

SilverPoint Systems can develop your BDR Plan, implement it, and test it regularly so you won’t need to do a thing. Plus, these functions can be conducted remotely without interruptions to your business operations.

Even if you’re down from a simple power outage, or one that lasts for weeks, your IT assets will be there for you. You can get back up and be running from where you left off, from any internet-connected device.

What Are The Benefits Of Having A Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Plan?

Here are 10 basic features to consider:

1. Your data and IT will always be stored securely and protected.
2. Your employees can continue to be productive during and after a disaster.
3. When a disaster does occur, the cost of disruptions will be significantly reduced.
4. Your good reputation will be preserved. When your business continues functioning despite a disaster, your customers will thank you and your reputation will be enhanced.
5. Your customers will be confident in continuing to do business with you because you can keep your commitments and ensure the delivery of services.
6. It shows your stockholders, BoD, and investors that you take your business seriously, and you’re prepared to maintain productivity no matter the circumstance.
7. It proves to your insurance company that you’re insurable – that you’ve done everything you can to protect your business from disruption.
8. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning often provide employees with useful insights into ways they can improve the tasks they perform.
9. You can meet your contractual requirements, where competitors who aren’t prepared for a disaster won’t. It opens the door to new opportunities from prospects who are unhappy with your competitors.
10. It will help you comply with government and industry regulations.

You wouldn’t consider running your operations without proper insurance to protect your employees or business assets. So why wouldn’t you have the proper safeguards in place to protect your most vital business asset, your data?

Planning and deploying a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan will prepare you for any disaster no matter how small or large. And remember, your BDR Solution must be designed and implemented prior to a disaster!

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