Being able to recover from a disaster is one thing…
An IT disaster, whether that’s the loss of a few files or the outage of your entire system following a cyber-attack, can be catastrophic to the operation of your business. If you have a professional backup service in place, there’s a strong chance you’ll be able to recover and get back on your feet. But, have you ever considered the time that a full-scale recovery might take?
If you need to download backup files from the cloud, it can take hours, or even days, to get access back to your data. That’s before you start the recovery process of restoring the data & services to their rightful place, and ensuring your users successfully regain access.
As the adage says, time is money. An IT outage, however large or small, can cost you a fortune.
…but how can you maintain the continuity of your business operations during that downtime?
Business Continuity, (“BC”), is the often forgotten third sister to Backup & Disaster Recovery.
BC doesn’t have to be an expensive enterprise-grade solution, it should be standard operating practice, (which will likely include an IT platform of some kind), that is both commercially & technically appropriate to the way you work. Your industry, size, the types of software & data you process, and even your geography, all play a part in the style of Business Continuity process your business should adopt.
Where IT is concerned, there are several BC puzzle pieces that can come together to complete an entire continuity solution, which is designed to meet a number of likely disaster outcomes.
At a lower level; a local server failover can provide you with continuity in the event of losing the operation of your main server. At a higher level; your local server failover can be paired with a cloud-based service that offers failover to a cloud hosted platform in the event of a total loss of access to your office premises.
If your business already operates mostly, or entirely, from cloud-based services you may be not likely to have a need for a recovery failover. Your BC plan might simply be centred around users having access to IT devices and internet connectivity from an off-site location.
Build a plan
All businesses regardless of their size or industry should have a Business Continuity plan that factors in any number of possible disaster outcomes, and how you will respond to ensure the continuity of operations are maintained.
Your IT partner should be best placed to understand the intricacies of your business operation, and of your IT services, to support you in mapping out a suitable BC plan.
Your IT may require investment as a part of this review to ensure you are truly defended, or, you may simply require documentation, training & support for your team to be able to access and function efficiently with the existing tools you have.
Want to get the best solution for your business?
At iTeam, we take a security first approach to technology – ensuring our client’s systems are best protected.
If you have any concerns, questions or simply want to explore how to better secure your business, please do get in touch with the team for a FREE demonstration, consultation to explore how exposed your business might actually be and identify actions to take.
To book a consultation or to arrange a further discussion, please get in touch via our form below, call 03330 507 690 or email Chris on cwatson@iteam.co.uk.