Business News Daily recently reported that each year, thirty percent of all servers will fail due to unpredictable events such as natural disasters or system outages. Down time due to information technology failure costs businesses over $26 billion and 127 million hours of work-time each year, and additionally, results in a 29 percent revenue loss.

Cloud disaster recovery can ensure that a business can continue to conduct operations and serve clients, even during a power outage. According to one business professional, it is necessary to compare an individual business’ costs of downtime with a software disaster recovery solution, in order to see the true value of a virtual system. Especially important is the retention of certain critical documents such as HR records and maintaining regulatory compliance.  A CFO of a well-known financial institution, Craig Boelte, explained that by keeping these  records in the cloud, employers can avoid legal consequences and other costly penalties.

He explained that investing in cloud-based solutions as well as HR technology options gives businesses the opportunity to make a strategic impact on the company.  He went on to say that data security and integration and stability should be considered and discussed in detail as a practical option.

Disasters cannot always be prevented, but businesses can do their part to leverage some of the effects by having a secure plan in place for data backup and restoration,  in the event of such a disaster. Some do not want to consider the option of storage of important data and backup systems in the cloud, and prefer to stay with the traditional model, while others like to pretend  we will never need to worry about it.  The risk of failing to plan for disasters is like skydiving without a parachute.  There is too much as stake to pretend it is never possible

and hope for the best.  It is alright to be optimistic but we must also be realistic.  No one was expecting the terrible events of November 11, 2001 either, but it still happened.

No one expects or plans too much for earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, or floods either.  But this never keeps them from happening, when the conditions are right.

If we close our eyes to the probability that, sooner or later, such disasters may occur, even in our own

area of the world, we open ourselves up to even greater disasters.  Harry Reasoner, the famous NBC news correspondent once said, “If you’re not part of the solution,  you’re part of the problem.”  This is certainly the case when it comes to failing to prepare for the inevitable.  Sooner or later, a disaster, whether natural or manmade, will occur.

Is your business prepared for this?

Considering the options involving both real world and cloud-based solutions, here are a few possible plans or steps to follow to ensure that life will go on in the event of a disaster:

1) Evaluate the importance of your business structure and what would happen if your land-based structure were to be incapacitated.

2) Appoint specific people to cover data recovery in the event data was lost or communications shut down during the outage or disaster.

3) Estimate about how long your business would be unable to function normally and the amount of time that would be needed to restore power or service to customers if this applies.

4) Consider how important your business is to the continuation of communications, emergency response, or other significant areas.

5)  Look at land-based solutions and compare them to solutions “in the cloud” and see which would be the most effective in restoring normal operations as soon as possible,

especially in the event of a disaster.

 

About the Author:

Aaron Mills

Aaron Mills is a blogger who writes on behalf of companies such as Protectyourbubble.com ID theft provider.

Quacktastic Reviews:

1 Comment

  1. Richard Thompson on February 4, 2014 at 3:24 pm

    Ensuring that you have contingency plans in place for your business and all those that rely on your success (family, employees, etc.) is so key to a successful business. Not having a backup plan can be absolutely disastrous for everyone involved. Great tips to help us all prepare for the worst!

Leave a Comment