An IT disaster can strike at any time. Some IT failures are the result of physical damage that may occur after a fire or a flood. Others are the result of a catastrophic hardware failure. More and more IT disasters occur after a cyber-attack. However an IT disaster strikes, your company needs the tools and policies in place to help you recovery quickly so your team can get back up and running.
IT Disaster Recovery Tools
The most effective tool you have in the event of an IT disaster is redundancy. It’s important that you have duplicate copies of your important files. Jurrens & Associates recommends keeping at least three copies of your files in various places, including offsite. Cloud-based computing has made offsite data backup easy and affordable. AWS, Microsoft Azure, and VMware may all be good solutions for your data backup. If you prefer your data to be backed up on a private server offsite, that is also an option.
Another important IT disaster recovery tool is your network monitoring software. Automated monitoring can detect vulnerabilities and bad actors in your network and alert you to take action before they turn into full-fledged disasters.
When’s the last time you took inventory of all of your technology and data storage tools? Having a list of all of your hardware, software, and applications can be a godsend when you’re recovering after a disaster. You can use it to check every piece of technology you have for data loss and damage. Without an inventory, you may overlook affected technology or allow damage or a vulnerability to continue to affect your network.
IT Disaster Recovery Policies
A technology inventory is an important part of an IT disaster recovery policy and plan. Your disaster recovery policy will help your entire team understand what their roles and responsibilities are in the event of an IT disaster and provide a timeline for recovery. Having a plan in place for how you will recover after an IT disaster helps you get up and running faster.
In addition to the technology inventory, a disaster policy includes a comprehensive list of who is involved in the recovery and what their responsibilities are. It should indicate who will coordinate the entire effort, who will step in immediately to triage the recovery, and who will document the recovery so your company can learn from the experience and take steps to prevent another disaster. Your plan should also indicate who is in charge of communicating the steps you’re taking with the rest of the team so they have an accurate idea of when they’ll be able to get back to work.
Partner with an IT Expert
If a data loss or network collapse would cripple your business, consider partnering with IT experts who can support your disaster prevention and recovery policy. Jurrens & Associates has decades of experience partnering with businesses to protect their data and their networks against catastrophe. For expert help, contact the Jurrens team today.