Having a reliable, secure information technology strategy in place is a necessity for any organization, but not all incidents can be avoided 100% of the time. The fact of the matter is that disaster can strike at any moment. Occurrences like cybercrime, hardware failure, and human error are the most common causes behind technology-related business disasters, but less common events like natural disasters and terrorism can be responsible as well. All these disasters have one thing in common: they can happen suddenly and unexpectedly with little or no opportunity to prepare. That’s why your organization needs a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).
So, what is a Disaster Recovery Plan? A DRP is a comprehensive outline of actions to be taken before, during, and after a disaster. To be fully effective, your organization’s DRP should clearly cover strategies related to the prevention, detection, and correction of such disasters.
Why is a Disaster Recovery Plan Important?
Much like wearing a seatbelt in a car or having an emergency preparedness kit in your home, having an up-to-date Disaster Recovery Plan in place can be a matter of life and death for your organization. And while the potential negative outcomes of a Disaster Recovery event are numerous, the most concerning result to be aware of is referred to as “downtime”. According to Beekeeper, downtime is defined as:
A period during which equipment or machine is not functional or cannot work. It may be due to technical failure, machine adjustment, maintenance, or non-availability of inputs such as materials, labor, or power.
In other words, downtime refers to any period of time in which your organization cannot perform its primary function(s). Some examples of downtime might be a medical office that is unable to access patient records due to a failed server, or a law office that is unable to access its Document Management System. In both these examples, the organization in question is unable to perform its primary function properly.
If you’re thinking “downtime can’t be that serious”, then consider these statistics:
- The average ransomware attack caused 16.2 days of downtime in 2021 (Coveware). Could your organization go more than two weeks without performing its primary function? For most, the answer is no.
- The average cost of downtime is $88,000/hour (Veeam). Quite literally every minute counts during a Disaster Recovery event. In other words, every minute spent without an executable plan in place can cost your organization thousands of dollars.
- 96% of businesses experience downtime of some kind over a 3-year period (LogicMonitor).
- Despite these frightening statistics, only about half of organizations have a comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan in place (Security Magazine).
How Can I Implement a Disaster Recovery Plan?
Now that you understand the importance of a DRP for your organization, you may be questioning the next steps you should take. This is one of the many ways a Managed Service Provider (MSP) can greatly benefit your organization. A good Managed Service Provider will take the time to understand the ins and outs of your organization and the clients/customers you serve. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all DRP, so make sure your MSP is customizing your plan for you.
If you don’t have a Disaster Recovery Plan in place or suspect yours is not as strong as it could be, Yardstick Technologies is here to help! Contact us today and we’ll be happy to help you.
