In a world that is more connected than ever before, business continuity and disaster recovery plans are as relevant as ever. However, very few people have the time to spend establishing a dedicated plan for dealing with disasters – many businesses will leave it until a crisis hits them to start making preparations.
Partnering with an IT company that can help you create a disaster recovery plan will save you a lot of time, heartache, and money in the long run.
Here are five things you should be considering as part of your company’s disaster recovery plan.
1. Power
Natural disasters are one major cause of power outages, but even small events like accidents can cause problems if they manage to knock over large advertising signs or damage trees near the local substation. Whether your business uses heavy machinery or not, you need to have a way of making sure you continue production in the event of a power outage, and that means considering alternative power sources like a standby generator.
Alternatives to consider include battery-powered lamps, wind turbines , solar panels, and a generator installation like a Kubota Diesel Generator. A head start on your competitors can give you an edge in the marketplace if they can’t continue production during a temporary blackout.
2. Network Connectivity
Internet connectivity is vital for many businesses – think about how much your company makes use of online payment processing systems, file sharing or VOIP technology. In fact, the smaller a business is the more likely it is to be dependent on internet connectivity without making customers aware of it. To extend your WiFi coverage you can use the best WiFi extender for Xfinity.
Understand exactly what services are dependent on the internet, and make sure you have an alternative connection if any of these services suddenly stop working.
3. Staff Training
A complicated business continuity plan is good, but even the best plan will fail if you don’t have staff that can perform their roles without direction from management. Make sure your staff are aware of the importance of their roles by making them a crucial part of your company’s disaster recovery plan.
4. Communication with Customers
Part of a business continuity plan is ensuring you still have a way of communicating with customers if things go wrong, and businesses that rely on the internet or mobile technology as part of their customer service face particular challenges during disasters. Having a strong marketing presence can help you keep your customers even if some of your channels no longer work, and you can consider developing a presence on social media to ensure that you are still able to keep in touch with the majority of your customer base.
5. Business Contingency Plan
One final factor too often overlooked by businesses when making disaster recovery plans is the extent of their business contingency plan. Once they have a plan in place to get their business up and running again, it is important that they have a plan for what happens if they can’t work from home or from an alternative location. If this is part of your business’s disaster recovery plan, make sure you keep the details updated regularly so you don’t lose time when a crisis hits.