Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery

As IT systems have become increasingly critical to the smooth operation of a company, and arguably the economy as a whole, the importance of ensuring the continued operation of those systems, or the rapid recovery of the systems, has increased.

Just try to calculate the monetary loss to your business if for instance your File Server is out of action for a whole day? What impact would it have on your company if you had:

• No access to email or the internet
• No access to your accounts package or ordering system
• No access to your contacts/CRM Package

Think of the potential lost revenue and then multiply the numbers of hours downtime by the number of employees standing idle and the figures can be frightening?

The Disaster Recovery Plan is the most important item in your armoury. It is what you will turn to if there is indeed a disaster or other serious incident.

Hopefully, you will never have to use it, but if you do, it can be the difference between the loss of your Business and its survival. It is therefore absolutely critical that it is workable and that it is of sufficient quality to guide you through the crisis. Shortcuts here could cost you dearly.

We sometimes encounter Businesses who already have a plan, BUT have little idea how it was generated. Further, the plan itself is sometimes too complicated to understand. Imagine how much harder it might be to grasp these requirements in the midst of disaster!

The first rule therefore is to UNDERSTAND the plan. At the outset, ensure that you understand how it is to be created. Good plans follow a logical process.

Technical Freedom can not only help you assess the risk to your critical systems but also develop and document a plan of action for your business recovery.