The Importance of Disaster Recovery

Backups are often the black sheep of technology, frequently ignored or never set up to begin with. Its been said that companies who suffer a substantial data loss will close shop within the year 70% of the time - so why in the world would anyone ignore such a vital component of their company?

Over the past seven years I’ve worked with many clients’ backup systems, most of which were ’set and forget’. This ’set and forget’ method is arguably the most dangerous approach to backups, more so than not having one at all. An all-too-common scenario usually goes like this:

A backup solution is implemented upon sever installation by a ‘techie’. He or she doesn’t recognize the importance of business continuity, thus no disaster recovery plan is created with routine backups and data verification checks. Backups are set up on a tape rotation which are then assigned to ‘Jill in A/R’ to swap and rotate off-site. Jill doesn’t know if the backups are good or not, her only job is to make sure the tapes are kept off-site. After several months Jill takes a promotion and during that single hectic day of training Jill gives her replacement, one critical piece of training is left out, the off-site backup rotation. Does this sound familiar?

As silly as it may seem, this is typically the situation I encounter when working with a new client. Changes in staff or consultants occur and backups are easily forgotten about. Disaster recovery planning can be as simple or as complicated as a business wants or needs it to be, but either way, it is a necessity no business should be without. Below are some simple steps a business can use to evaluate it’s recovery needs:

1. Determine how critical your business data is. Does your data need to be backed up weekly, daily, or even hourly? How fast do you need access to your data after a disaster? An auto body shop, for example, may only need a daily or weekly backup if most records are kept by hand, but a law office which keeps everything electronically may want a daily and hourly backup.
2. Determine what backup type is needed. Is everything on a shared drive (simple online backup would suffice) or are there multiple databases running (imaging solution paired with online backups may be the best answer)?
3. Protect your backups. ALWAYS have a fully-operable, RECOVERABLE backup in a safe off-site location. Plan the location and the personnel who will carry this out.
4. Develop processes for recovering from disaster. Your business must be able to function again within the determined timeframe in Step 1.
5. Test the backup solution. Make sure backups work as needed and can be implemented properly.
6. Sustain!!! The last step is oft-overlooked and is the ’set and forget’ step in most businesses. Frequent validation of backups and mock recovery exercises are critical in ensuring the Disaster Recovery plan works as planned. The Disaster Recovery plan should be on every GM or Owner’s agenda at least once every quarter to make sure the plan is followed through accordingly.

No matter which way you slice it, backups will always be furthest from mind to most managers and owners. Backups are our friends if a disaster recovery plan is well thought out and kept up on. In today’s recession every business needs to have ‘the edge’, use disaster planning to your advantage because I’d be willing to bet your neighbors are not…