What stands between your data and disaster? You do.<\/p>\n
IT disasters cost US businesses $1.2 trillion every year. Worldwide, the total is $6.2 trillion. And more of that comes from so-called \u2018silent disasters\u2019 software bugs or malware and hardware failures than you\u2019d think. Everyone thinks about preparing for floods or hurricanes, because they\u2019re high-profile and high-impact. Fact is, they\u2019re also low-probability.<\/p>\n
And with leaking, hacking and security risks riding front-of-mind for so many, it\u2019s easy to forget that many of the the disasters that put your whole company IT system up on blocks are just that – accidents. It really doesn\u2019t matter, after all, where they come from. What matters is how you respond to them.<\/p>\n
1: Plan For Disaster<\/p>\n
Anticipate likely problems before they arise. No, you can\u2019t get ready for everything – but you can build data loss templates that reflect the most likely threats you face. Map out two to four of the most likely scenarios and base your preparations on those. Look at the data losses you\u2019ve suffered in the past, or those that affected other enterprises in your business vertical and geographic location, and build on that knowledge to prepare.<\/p>\n
2: Make Sure You Have the Right Tools<\/p>\n
Ensure that the processes and technology to deal with the treats you\u2019ve identified are in place. Have backup and recovery, snapshot and replication capacity ready for when it;’s needed. A good disaster recovery plan will need all these in place to cover any eventuality. Augment their efficacy and prevent overuse by building in a monitoring tool that\u2019s sensitive and accurate, with a low number of false positives.<\/p>\n
3: Test It!<\/p>\n
Just like a fire alarm system is only as good as the last fire drill, so a data recovery plan, too, is only as good as its last test. When was the last time you tested yours? If the last time you tested your data recovery plan, the solution involved switching out a blown valve, you need to step up testing. Otherwise you just think you\u2019re ready – when you need your data recovery plan the most, it might let you down.<\/p>\n
With a resiliency plan in place, you\u2019ll be equipped to hit the ground running if disaster does strike, as well as being more likely to catch internal problems like ailing hardware or buggy programs in the bud, before they can trigger a disaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What stands between your data and disaster? You do. IT disasters cost US businesses $1.2 trillion every year. Worldwide, the total is $6.2 trillion. And more of that comes from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n