Your most important business data is now stored digitally. There are a bunch of obvious reasons that societal shift happened: it frees up space. It's safer (in some respects). It's easier to access (for better or worse). It's more efficient. Think about a server room compared to a room filled with boxes of records, piled on top of filing cabinets, crammed into every corner. Which scenario would you rather deal with?
But, in the haste to adopt the clearly superior storage solution, many businesses failed to plan for the vulnerabilities of digital storage. While there are fewer downsides, they still exist and failing to plan is truly planning to fail when it comes to protecting your business data. There are a handful of undeniable realities: Equipment fails. Crime occurs. Disaster strikes. For the former, most businesses put some kind of backup plan in place. But, to protect fully against data loss of all kinds, you need more than that. You need business continuity.
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Here is how the two differ and why you need a full-fledged business continuity plan and not just a backup solution:
What is a backup plan? A backup plan, or backup solution, is a series of server backups that protect your data from any damage to or related to your main server. By creating a backup of your data, you're protecting against data loss. Should there be a breach or an equipment failure, you can use the backup to restore the data and prevent any significant loss. Every business should have a backup plan. It's a straightforward way to defend yourself against data loss. Done frequently enough, you'll know that your important data is safe. But, a backup plan addresses one very specific aspect of data protection. To be fully prepared for a worst case scenario, you need more than that. You need a complete Disaster Recovery Plan.
What is business continuity? A backup plan is just one part of a larger strategy to combat data loss and technology disaster. 'Business Continuity' is an all-encompassing plan that helps your business avoid data loss, avoid downtime, and avoid technology disasters of all kinds. Also known as 'Disaster Recovery,' this type of plan is a complete strategy that accounts for every aspect of a data emergency and all angles of any technology disaster (think a critical system going down, a natural disaster destroying a building). From top to bottom, a DR plan covers what steps to take, who needs to be contacted, and provides clear pathways to address and fix solutions. The goal, is to keep your business running as usual and absolutely minimize any downtime. When businesses can't operate, they can't make money. When they can't make money, they can't survive. Having a DR plan is the key to ensuring that your business can survive any technology disaster.
Your business needs more than a backup plan. It needs a Disaster Recovery Plan. For more details and a full explanation of how to build and maintain a Disaster Recovery Plan, follow the link below. Every business is at risk for disaster. Planning now can help your business get on its feet faster.
