As a small business owner, you may have worried about all of the what-ifs that could come into play if a disaster were to happen. Exactly what does it mean when we talk about a disaster? It could mean a natural disaster destroying all of your data, a simple download of a virus that corrupts your systems, or an employee innocently deleting something they shouldn’t have. Whatever happens it can be hard and time consuming to recuperate from. Develop a disaster recovery plan to ensure that if the time ever comes, there is a plan in place so that you can get back on your feet as quickly as possible.
Decide What’s Important
The first step is knowing what you have and what’s essential. Take an inventory of all the data that is critical for your company to run. This will lead you to the data that ought to be backed up. Utilizing an online provider or the cloud to store all of your data is one method to ensure data recovery if your hard drive crashes and burns.
Make a Plan
Your next step is to contemplate what steps you need to take if something happens. Start with the worst possible scenario and make a plan for that. What technology do you require if everything is destroyed, what data, and what systems need to be back up ASAP? Write down all of these in order of importance.
Know Your Workflows
I’m sure you have the big picture of your company processes, but what about all the day-to-day processes that you don’t have memorized? Ask your employees to document their workflows and the specific tasks they preform. This way, if something does happen, anyone can pick up where they left off and nothing gets looked over.
Decide Who is in Charge
Many people panic when disaster strikes. To make sure the panic doesn’t make things worse, put someone that has helped you build the plan in charge of carrying out your data recovery plan. This way you are available to reassure everyone and manage the company and you can be the strong leader your employees need in time of crisis.
People often think disasters can’t happen to them, but we never know what could happen in the future! So it’s important to have a plan in place just in case. This will help put you and your employees at ease.
Take IT Away 