{"id":3668,"date":"2016-11-03T16:14:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T20:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insureyourcompany.com\/?p=3668"},"modified":"2016-11-03T16:14:41","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T20:14:41","slug":"creating-a-data-disaster-recovery-plan-for-your-small-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insureyourcompany.com\/blog\/creating-a-data-disaster-recovery-plan-for-your-small-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating A Data Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Small Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

The right time to decide what you’ll do about a data disaster is before<\/em> it happens. Once it occurs, if you don’t have a\u00a0data recovery plan\u00a0in place, it’s too late. Your business will most likely fail.<\/p>\n

If you’ve prepared for trouble, though, your organization has a good chance of survival.<\/p>\n

Fires<\/a>, natural disasters, and crime can wreak serious damage on a business’s computers, including its on-site backups. Insurance may cover the hardware<\/a>, but no amount of money can replace data that’s permanently lost. Without critical customer and employee records, there might be no way to continue.<\/p>\n

A disaster recovery plan will cover everything necessary to surviving a data catastrophe. It will let you determine what you’ll have to recover, how to do it, and who will do it.<\/p>\n

Identification<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first step is to identify all your critical data assets. What systems do you have that carry out essential processes and hold necessary data? Be sure to include any machines that might sit half-forgotten, yet play an essential role.<\/p>\n

Do you have any systems that are so old, they’ll be hard to replace? If you’re stuck with an ancient system that you can’t easily replace, be sure to export its data regularly to a more usable archive format. That way, other software will be able to pick it up, even if it takes some work.<\/p>\n

Backup<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Having backups is important, but if a disaster ruins your entire network, a local backup isn’t enough. The backup drive is likely to suffer as much damage as the original. You need to keep a copy of all your essential data in a remote location. Cloud backup is a safe and economical way to do this.<\/p>\n

Choose a reliable service that will still be around when you need it. A well-established, reputable cloud service with redundant locations gives you the highest level of safety.<\/p>\n

The backup process and storage both need to be secure. You’re sending all your files over the Internet, and it’s important\u2014often legally required\u2014to make sure no one can intercept and read them. The backup has to transfer and store all data in a strongly encrypted form.<\/p>\n

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