How Can You Limit Downtime When You Experience a Disaster?

Disasters could bring damages beyond what you expect. Floods, hurricanes, fires, hacking, and data breach are just some of the potential hazards that could hamper the operation of a business. Be it a natural or a cyber-related onslaught; you should be prepared for the aftermath.

A disaster recovery plan is crucial so your business can go back up fast after disasters. Also, you should have procedures in place to reduce or limit the downtime your business experiences. Remember that for every day of closing shop, you’re losing large sums of money.

Here, we discussed some tips that you can use to prepare your business for possible disasters.

Always have a reliable backup hardware/software

Regardless if it’s a natural disaster or a potential data breach, reliable backup hardware or software is essential. Your IT department or IT provider (if you outsource) should have a backup in place as a proactive approach to any possible downtime that your business may encounter.

This will protect your data and make restoration faster so you can go back to business quickly. Cutting corners when purchasing a backup appliance isn’t a good idea. The upfront cost could be steep, but it’s worth the investment.

Train your employees for disaster response

On the aftermath of the disaster, your employees should know how to deal with the situation. Train them on how to protect data and how to get everything back up in proper order.

You can hold drills to test the preparedness of your employees during a cyberattack. Physical drills for natural calamities are also important.

There should be designated roles to handle each aspect of the situation. Assign a disaster recovery manager, insurance personnel, defense committee, and more.

Come up with a disaster recovery plan

If you don’t have one yet, you should come up with a disaster recovery plan right away. It will help you build your business back up and limit the downtimes you may experience.

DRs are your compass when you lose your track after a disaster. It can save your business and help you reduce the cost of recovering the lost data.

You should include specific situations and what your employees should do.

Strengthen your cybersecurity

Cyberattacks are now considered a digital disaster. Hackers can rake large amounts of confidential information from your system. If your system is a sitting duck, hackers won’t have to work hard to get their hands on your business.

It’s time to put up a secure firewall and to boost your IT infrastructure. That way, you can detect suspicious activities as it happens. For businesses handling sensitive information, this is a must.

Don’t stop monitoring

When it comes to your cybersecurity, you should never stop monitoring. Still, it doesn’t mean that you’ll stare at the computer all day long.

There are many detection software that you can use to monitor your system as you sleep. Also, you can outsource your cybersecurity to a trusted provider. These professionals have the right skills and tools to keep your system guarded.