When we hear the word “disaster” we typically think of something physical like natural disasters from 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. In 2019, 28% of all documented cyber-attacks targeted and affected small businesses.
Some of these businesses were able to pick back up quickly and mitigate any loss, 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.
But where do you start, and what’s most important to include in your recovery plan? This article will give you the building blocks to determine a process to get back online and operational again, as well as protecting your business’s assets before disaster strikes.
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, and how much data you can afford to lose. The objective may seem bleak but knowing if your business can survive without a few hours of data, or days, will tell you how often you’ll need to back up your data, and how robust your backup options will 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 data is shared unsecured.
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 know every disaster recovery and data recovery would go smoothly just 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 varying disasters.
If you’re ready to protect your business with a detailed data recovery plan, get in touch with our Friendly PC 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.
