Does your company have a disaster recovery plan?

In the IT world, it is obvious that this major interruption will have serious repercussions on your company’s productivity, budget and image.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to predict natural disasters, but thankfully, it is possible to implement a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to better protect you in the event that you find yourself in a situation like this.

BCP software is a tool that brings together various procedures to help limit damage in the event of a disaster.

It is an action plan that allows your company to have a solution to respond to any event, to ensure you have continued access to your data and therefore, avoid interruptions in your operations.

In the event of a crisis, your company needs to know exactly what measures should be taken to ensure its data is backed up.

Moreover, it is by having a good plan that you will be able to resume service more quickly, in addition to protecting your employees and customers.

Think you’re safe from danger? Think again.

It’s important to know that it’s not just a health crisis that could affect your business.

Here are some examples of risks your organization may face:

• Cyber attacks, viruses, hacking
• Computer or hardware weaknesses
• Network Problems
• Power outages
• Natural disasters

A BCP establishes the course of action to be taken by an organization in the event of a crisis.

The organization must therefore entrust this role to specialists or employees who have the necessary skills to build a proper BCP.

Steps to follow to build a BCP:

1. Risk Analysis:

If a crisis were to occur today, would your company be able to manage it effectively?

If the answer to this question is no, then the time to start building your business continuity plan is now.

Begin by analyzing what the impact and threats of a disaster would be on your business and its operations.

Design your plan based on the services offered by the most important IT department.

What would the economic impact of losing your computer servers be?

When it comes to IT, you should be able to define all of the potential risks that could impact your computer system. This will be the basis for finding solutions and building a good prevention plan.

2. Finding solutions:

You need to find preventive strategies and solutions for each element that could get in the way of your organization’s activities.

You may wish to designate a person responsible for coordinating the members of your organization to set up an action plan.

Always ensure that a copy of this plan is available outside the workplace.

In case of real danger, each member will have their role to play.

At this stage, you must identify key vendors and perform test data recovery exercises.

The BCP will also be responsible for establishing the continuity plan, ensuring that procedures are followed in the event of a crisis, in addition to communicating with other members of the company to inform them of the specific measures to be taken.

It is important to be clear about what is required to ensure that IT operations can be resumed.

3. Activation and validation:

It is best to identify a team among the members of your organization that will be responsible for organizing the course of action in the event of a disaster.

At minimum, all members of your organization must be aware of the steps to be taken.

They should be familiar with what to do and when to do it according to the priorities of the plan established beforehand.

This is where it is important to test whether or not the business continuity plan is effective.

If your plan seems incomplete, it would be a good idea to invest in training to review your plan and analyze what should be better prepared.

It is essential to continually check your business continuity plan to ensure that procedures are always up-to-date.

Why use a cloud-based software to complement your BCP?

Cloud-based software like that of Hector allows you to keep a record of all the equipment held by your organization.

In the event of a crisis, it will be easier to trace your equipment and the state it was in prior to the disaster.

This aspect is also particularly relevant to determine the amount to be claimed from insurers.

It is also helpful to quickly retrieve the descriptions of each item in your inventory simply by using the barcode.

This will allow you to quickly target risks and design a solution and action plan adapted for each of your assets.

By displaying the description of each item within the software, all your employees will be able to use the assets and know what to do in case of a crisis.

With a computer asset management software, your data will always be safe.

You will be able to resume service as quickly as possible, because your information will remain stored in the cloud server.

The disaster recovery plan (DRP)

One of the disadvantages of BCP is that it is a very expensive plan for companies to put in place.

It can also be very laborious to maintain which often means it is not a priority for organizations, who are already busy managing day-to-day activities.

In this case, your organization could benefit from a Business Resumption Plan (BRP).

The BRP is used to provide a set of steps to be followed for a quick computer system restart. It will serve as a guide to recover your data and revert it back to the same state as before the crisis.

Hector, the solution for you!

Is your company not yet fully equipped to respond to a disaster? Has your organization not yet introduced a procedure to safeguard your computer equipment?

We have a solution to help get you on the right track toward protecting your data.

Hector can support you and protect your data so that you’ll always be prepared in the event of a crisis. For more information, visit our site today.