Is Your Office Prepared? 16 Questions to Ask Yourself About Disaster Recovery

Before getting into this post, let's quickly talk about disaster recovery. 

Most people see the word “disaster” and think of hurricanes, fire, flood, tornadoes, volcanoes, or other natural disasters. Of course, those can and do cause business disruption.

However, what disaster recovery is really about is ANY event that disrupts your business operations – many of them caused by simple human error.

Sure, your office could catch on fire or you could be flooded and see your business documents float away. More likely is a server crash that knocks out your network for an hour (or a day or a week). Or someone opens a phishing email, letting in a ransomware virus, and your office loses access to its data.

The key question to focus on in disaster recovery is this – how long can you afford to have your operations disrupted?

Do you know what to do in the case of a business disruption – man-made or natural? Do you have backup and disaster recovery plans to quickly recover and continue to do business? Phone systems. Information systems. Employee outreach. 

No one ever expects a disaster, but the Boy Scouts have it right: Be prepared.

Not sure how well prepared you are in the event of disaster? Ask yourself these 16 questions. If you’ve got it covered, great. If not, give us a call. 

1. All of our company’s data and information (desktops and laptops too!) is backed up regularly (hourly, daily, or at least weekly) and kept in a secure, remote location. Having tape backups sitting next to your server isn't a disaster recovery plan!
2. Our company has backup and disaster recovery plans, and an evacuation plan in place and we test it annually.
3. All of our company’s contracts and other legal documents are converted to electronic files or they are copied and stored at a secure, remote location.
4. Our company has enough Business Interruption Insurance to cover the cost of operations for a minimum of 60 days, even with no revenue.
5. Our company could survive for up to three business days without access to our key business software and applications, including email.
6. Our company’s phone system is fully documented, backed up regularly, and we have the capability or a plan for recovering immediately.
7. Our company would survive even if our entire IT staff disappeared tomorrow.
8. Our company would survive if all of our client and corporate data and information were somehow acquired by a competitor.
9. Our company has an alternate place(s) to conduct business if our current facilities were unavailable for more than one day.
10. Our company is prepared if one of our primary vendors cannot deliver inventory or services to us for any period of time.
11. Our company conducts a facility evaluation annually and corrects any defects.
12. Our company has a remote emergency system to contact all employees, vendors, and/or customers, without having access to our building or systems.
13. Our company conducts a full data systems restoration test at least once a year at a remote facility.
14. All of our company’s laptops, smart phones, and tablets are protected with passwords, encryption, and remote wipe capability.
15. Our company has a current contact list of all our emergency service providers
16. Our company has a plan in place to respond if any key employee cannot perform his or her regular duties.

If you're having a hard time answering these questions and could use some help, a managed IT provider could be a helpful resource.