Having a good data backup plan is essential to ensure data recovery, but backup alone won’t save you when you’re hit by a cyber attack or other disaster. You need to ensure your employees can access vital data and applications elsewhere when your office environment has been hit so that core business can keep on going while you bring your systems back to normal.
Three essential data recovery preparations
The best way to ensure recovery from a data disaster is to prepare to avoid one:
- Backup your data every day, offsite, and make sure your most valuable data is encrypted
- Create an off-site environment where your staff can continue working on vital documents and apps while the disaster area is being brought back to normal
- Simulate a disaster recovery event every three months to make sure your recovery plan keeps on working
To fulfill these data recovery preparations there’s a fair amount of work to do. You need to map your data, i.e. work out what your most important data is, where it sits, and who has access to it. Then make sure this is data is being backed up daily and being stored offsite. You’ll also need to find out how to encrypt the data. Next you need to find a place to defer to, either a physical location or a place in the cloud, so that operations can continue as usual. Testing your recovery site for full operation is equally important so that you continue to know if you have a workable recovery plan or not.
Disaster recovery done for you
So how do you do all this to ensure data recovery? The easiest way is to let a DRaaS (dedicated disaster recovery as a service) provider take the problem off your hands at a fraction of the cost. This way, dedicated business continuity experts will take over the task, and make sure your data is secure and your business systems are recoverable in an unaffected environment shortly after a disaster. It’s infinitely easier than trying to do the whole thing on your own with your IT department taking responsibility. And the peace of mind you’ll feel at being able to continue with business as usual – no matter what – goes without saying.
