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Stay Up and Running Plan for IT Disaster

Written by Paul ChisholmChairman and CEO of mindSHIFT Technologies

Is your organization prepared to recover from an IT disaster? All organizations rely oninformation technology to successfully run their operations and effectively serve theirclients. Because data availability is so crucial, the need for organizations to compile athorough disaster recovery plan is essential.

According to Info-Tech Research Group, however, almost 60% of North American

businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place to resume IT services in caseof crisis. Compellingly, Faulkner Information Services found that 50% of companies thatlose their data due to disasters go out of business within 24 months.

Ten Tips for IT Disaster Recovery Planning

Devise a disaster recovery plan To begin, define what is important to keep thebusiness running and the recovery time objective or how quickly the company needs tobe up and running post-disaster. Other key plan components to consider are who withinthe organization declares the disaster, how employees are informed that a disaster hasoccurred, and what method of communication to use with customers to reassure themthat the company can still service their needs.

Monitor implementation Once a disaster recovery plan has been established, it iscritical to monitor the plan to ensure its components are implemented effectively. Adisaster recovery plan should be viewed as a living, breathing document that can andshould be updated frequently.

Test disaster recovery plan A 2007 eWeek survey of more than 500 senior ITprofessionals revealed that a whopping 89% of companies test their disasterrecovery/failover systems only once per year or not at all, leaving their enterprisesvulnerable to massive technology and business failures in the event of a disaster. Theeffectiveness of the disaster recovery plan can only be assessed if rigorous testing iscarried out one or more times per year in simulated realistic conditions.

Perform off-site data back-up and storage As part of establishing a back-up datasolution, every company should use an off-site, secure data storage center. Additionally,companies need to determine their recovery point objective (RPO) the time betweenthe last available back-up and when a disruption could potentially occur. Every companyshould back-up its data at least once daily, but should strongly consider more frequentback-up or continuous data protection.

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Perform data restoration tests Using tape back-up for data storage has been integralto IT operations for many years, however this form of back-up has not been the mostreliable. Today, disk-to-disk systems are gaining popularity. With either type of system,the back-up software and the hardware on which it resides need to be checked daily toverify that back-up is completed successfully. With tape back-up, companies need tostore the tapes in an off-site location that is secure and accessible, while disk systemsneed to have an off-site replication if the back-up is not run off-site initially. Moreover,

companies need to perform monthly test restoration to validate that a restoration can beaccomplished during a disaster.

Back-up laptops and desktops Backing up laptops and desktops protects criticaldata that is not stored on the organizations network in the event of a lost, stolen ordamaged workstation.

Be redundant Establishing redundant servers for all critical data and providing analternate way to access that data are essential components of an organizations disasterrecovery planning and can bring disaster recovery time down to minutes rather thandays.

Invest in theft recovery and data delete solutions for laptops Because laptops aremore easily misplaced or stolen, organizations should secure data deletion and theftrecovery options for their users laptops. Theft recovery solutions can locate, recoverand return lost or stolen computers, while data delete options can enable companies todelete data remotely from lost or stolen computers, thereby preventing the release ofsensitive information.

Install regular virus pattern updates Organizations need to protect their data andsystems by installing regular virus pattern updates as part of disaster recovery planning.

Consider hiring a managed services provider For small- to medium-sizedorganizations, it is often cost prohibitive to implement a sound disaster recovery plan.

Managed services providers (MSPs) have the technical personnel to design, implementand manage complex disaster recovery projects, and have the server, storage andnetwork infrastructure in place to manage a true disaster recovery plan.

Bottom Line

Organizations of all sizes are vulnerable to experiencing a crisis that could prevent themfrom continuing normal business operations at any time. A well-structured and coherentdisaster recovery plan will enable companies to recover quickly and effectively from anunforeseen disaster or emergency, thus avoiding significant business interruption andloss.