When we hear the word “disaster”, we typically think of natural disasters such as storms and floods, but disasters take many forms. If you run a small business, data loss is one of the worst disasters you may be faced with one day. Data loss can be caused by physical disasters like fires and floods, but less physical damage like a system failure or cyberattack is much more common. Cyber crime is up 600% due to the COVID-19 pandemic and over 43% of cyber attacks in 2021 affected small businesses. Some of these businesses were able to pick back up quickly, however, others weren’t as lucky or prepared. Small businesses that fell victim to cyberattacks or data loss could have prevented this by creating an effective data recovery plan with our Friendly Managed Services!
Four Tips to Build Your Data Recovery Plan
Set Recovery Point Objectives
Your recovery point objectives (RPO) help you determine how quickly you need to have systems up and running again after a disaster, along with how much data you can afford to lose. The objective may seem bleak, but knowing if your business can survive without a few hours or days of data will tell you how often you’ll need to back up your data, and how robust your backup options need to be.
Document Possible Threats
After setting clear recovery objectives, the next step is to review how those objectives fit different potential disaster threats. In the case of a natural disaster, is your data backed up and accessible in an off-site location for employees and leadership? If your internal system is taken down by a cyberattack, will you be able to protect your customers’ information and know what may have been affected?
Train Staff
Data loss can be a product of user error, and unwanted users can get information when suspicious links are clicked or unsecured data is shared. Educating your employees about data safety is a vital piece of your data recovery plan. Training programs should include active training and passive training regularly through online seminars, worksheets, and company-wide reminders.
Test and Evaluate Data Recovery Plan
It would be great if you knew every disaster was coming and data recovery would go smoothly as planned, right? The truth is, the only way you can make that happen is by putting your data recovery plan to the test. Regularly read through the plan with your recovery team to ensure that everyone knows their role and what to expect when the time comes. Create hypothetical scenarios to challenge your team to follow the correct strategy in various disasters.
If you’re ready to protect your business with a detailed data recovery plan, get in touch with our Friendly Managed Services technicians to learn how our on-site and remote business plans can help you get back to business with specialized data backup and recovery solutions. Our Friendly Managed Services are here and happy to help! We can make this somewhat daunting task an easy and worthwhile step for your small business.
