It’s inescapable.  No matter how many actions it takes to protect and secure your business, it’s impossible to be fully prepared for all eventualities.  Network failures, cybersecurity attacks, data loss, server down, or even something as mundane as the power going out at a crucial moment, all can be huge setbacks.  Should the worst happen, whether it be through negligence or malicious intent, it’s important to have a disaster recovery plan in place so that the effects are minimized.  

WHAT IS A DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN?

A Dallas Disaster Recovery Plan involves a set of policies, tools and procedures to enable the recovery or continuation of vital technology infrastructure and systems following a natural or human-induced cataclysmic event. Wikipedia. 

WHAT ARE CRITICAL PARTS OF A DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN?

All businesses share similar risks of loss due to natural and manmade disasters. The critical parts of a Dallas disaster recovery plan should address these areas:

1) All probable scenarios: Identify, prioritize and detail responses for each likely disaster.  This step should include items related to natural disasters, man-made emergencies, and technology related incidents. This will help the team indicate the recovery strategies and resources required to recover from disasters within a predetermined and acceptable timeframe.

2) Business Impact Analysis (BIA):  This analysis spells out events’ potential financial, legal and operational effects.  A company must evaluate its business processes to determine which are critical to the operations of the organization. The plan should focus on short-term survivability, such as generating cash flows and revenues, rather than on a long-term solution of restoring the company’s full functioning capacity. However, the business must recognize that there are some processes that should not be delayed if possible. One example of a critical process is the processing of payroll.

3) People:  Name specific individuals and their responsibilities, along with their contact information who are essential in responding to and recovering from disasters.  This should include technology consulting from an IT support company Dallas.  This will be the team responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining the Disaster Recovery Plan in Dallas.  However, all employees should be enlightened of and knowledgeable about the Dallas Disaster Recovery Plan and what each of their responsibilities are if a disaster occurs. 

4) Updates: The disaster recovery team, including a Managed Services Provider Plano should regularly update the disaster recovery plan to adjust for changes in business processes, technology, and evolving disaster risks.  Omitting technologies and applications that are actually deployed will doom your plan to failure. Refresh it after major changes to any internal systems. 

5) Clear priorities. Sensitive assets, proprietary resources and IP trump other kinds of information. Secure them first.

6) Drills: Dallas Disaster recovery planning is a continual process as risks of disasters and emergencies are always changing. It is recommended that the business routinely test the DRP through simulations to evaluate the procedures documented in the plan for effectiveness and appropriateness.

7) Specify procedures:   Issues like network failure and power outages can cause the information to be corrupted or lost.  In a worst-case scenario, it might be impossible to salvage the data from such an event.  This is why it’s important to preserve your data in a remote secure location so that normal business operations can be restored quickly and painlessly any time afterwards with the help of Managed IT.

Infrequent backups can cause your company to lose several months’ worth of data & set you back, which can be disastrous.  By regularly creating backups, you minimize the amount of data at risk at any given time.  These procedures should identify what to back up, by whom, how to perform the backup, location of backup and how frequently backups should occur. All critical applications, equipment, and documents should be backed up.

8) Evaluate Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS):  This is a category of cloud computing used for protecting an application or data from a natural or human disaster or service disruption at one location by enabling a full recovery in the cloud. Wikipedia.  This service model means that the company itself doesn’t have to own all the resources or handle all the management for disaster recovery, instead relying on the service provider.  Though attractive, a cloud-based recovery technology solution may or may not be right for you.

For most businesses, it’s easy to view disasters as unlikely or something that only happens to other businesses.  By changing perspective and viewing disasters as a very real threat that could occur at any moment, it puts you in a mindset that is better able to minimize risks.

If your organization needs help developing or executing a business continuity plan Dallas or one for Disaster Recovery Dallas or Plano, it’s best to do so with an experienced partner that is thorough and has years of industry experience in backup and recovery.  TeamLogic IT Plano is one of the best disaster recovery companies in Dallas and Plano and offers many such services to get your business ready with contingency plans.  For further assistance contact our IT consultant in Dallas and Plano at (469) 573.3743 or go to our website at teamlogicitplanotx.com.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT DISASTER RECOVERY

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF DISASTER RECOVERY PLANS?

There are four types of disaster recovery plans which include data center, cloud-based, virtualization, and Disaster Recovery as a Service.

WHAT ARE THE FIVE METHODS OF TESTING A DRP?

The five methods of testing a disaster recovery plan or walkthrough, simulation, checklist, full interruption, and parallel.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DISASTER RECOVERY SOFTWARE?

The two most important benefits of disaster recovery software are cost savings and faster recovery.

By on May 12, 2021   /   Technology