As a small business owner that accesses the Internet from your computer systems you understand the importance of protecting your valuable data from hackers and others who commit cyber-crimes. What you may not realize is the importance of backing up your data in a safe and secure manner to ensure that in the event of a loss or a breach in your security you are able to restore your systems quickly.
Due to cost and convenience many business owners perform on site data backup. While at one time this was the best option, remote backup has replaced this old method for many reasons. One of the most obvious reasons on site backup is not ideal is that in the event of a loss due to theft, fire or flood, the backed up data can easily be lost. Server systems are prone to hardware failure in time and eventually become obsolete which is another major factor in backup costs. Finally, the medium on which your backup data is stored is cost prohibitive and restoration of lost data can be very laborious and time-consuming which adds to the overall cost.
Information technology (IT) has become an integral part of business functions and can cause significant financial losses in the event of a disaster. Encompassing systems, applications and data, it is essential to have a disaster recovery plan for your IT so you can get your business up and running quickly if you do suffer a loss.
There are four main components to an IT system: connectivity, hardware, software and data. Since all of these components are required to run your system, they should all be part of a recovery strategy to restore your business functions. The more your business relies on IT to operate, the more critical a recovery strategy becomes to lessen the impact of a loss of any portion of your system.
The first step in establishing a recovery plan for your business is to take a complete inventory of your hardware, software and data that is required to operate your business. Ensure that you identify each software application and the hardware required for the critical operation requirements of your business.
