
Businesses develop disaster recovery plans to ensure they can maintain operations and recover crucial data after an emergency. Cyberattacks, natural disasters, and power outages are just a few circumstances where such a plan is invaluable. Use these key tips for developing a disaster recovery plan that is reliable and adaptable.
Choose Your Team
Before developing disaster recovery plans for all essential systems and data, businesses must establish a specific team for carrying out the development and recovery. Whether you’re appointing current employees, hiring new ones, or using a mixture of the two, ensure they’re all personnel you trust. When disaster strikes, this designated group of employees will begin recovering data as soon as possible.
Without a designated team in place, there’s no chain of command for the aforementioned recovery. Your disaster team can be the key to identifying current issues with essential systems, such as faulty equipment in the data center. As you’ll learn below, combating issues before they strike is essential.
Rely On Redundancy
Redundancy refers to the need for extra steps in your disaster recovery plan to combat additional potential hazards. For example, you can create power redundancies by implementing power distribution equipment. In other words, your system can shift from central power to emergency power when necessary.
Redundancies ensure your backup systems function without a hitch. This same principle applies to data storage. Many businesses rely on physical hard drives for on-site data recovery because it’s incredibly convenient. But having an off-site cloud storage redundancy ensures you can still extract sensitive data if something happens to your on-site hard drive. Think of it like plugging leaks in your boat before they even appear.
Run Routine Tests
Speaking of plugging leaks, running routine tests is one of the key tips for developing a disaster recovery plan for businesses. Once your team develops the recovery plan, start running tests immediately. If you run into an unforeseen issue with the plan, you can swiftly find a solution. The best technique is to run tests every three or four months. Conducting test runs is especially helpful when you upgrade any equipment around the office. New equipment can throw a wrench in the plan, but running a test after installation creates a chance to remove the wrench, ensuring the system functions successfully.
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