4 Factors of a Speedy IT Recovery After a Disaster

Before you finally face off with an actual disaster, you’ll want to make the right preparations to succeed. We’ve already discussed the importance of having a disaster recovery plan, and how that can affect the success of the overall recovery.

You’ve undoubtedly asked yourself, “How long does this whole thing take?” And the answer, to nobody’s surprise, is that it completely depends on multiple factors.

Here are four things you can do to ensure your IT recovery is fast and efficient.

Complete a Functional Disaster Recovery Plan

It’s hard to recover from a disaster without a functional plan. A disaster recovery plan will tell you exactly who does what and how it all gets done during the disaster. In essence, it’s the playbook that guides the entire recovery.

Disaster recovery plans can make the difference between a smooth operation and complete recovery disarray. Though most business owners recognize the importance of having these plans in place, some view them as a frivolous and unnecessary waste of time.

Did you know: 21% of small-business owners without a written disaster plan said they don’t have one because it’s not a high priority for them.

However, disaster recovery planning and “waste of time” are two things that should never be in the same sentence. ITIC’s latest survey data finds that 98% of organizations say a single hour of downtime costs over $100,000.

In other words – time is money. While it may not benefit you today, a disaster recovery plan may very well be the deciding factor for your business surviving or suffering the impending downtime.

Prepare the Right Kind of Backups

One of the primary aspects data recovery is the efficiency and functionality of the data backups. Even if your disaster recovery plan goes off without a hitch, you’ll still inevitably depend on your backups to restore your operations.

There are many different choices when it comes to backups, and it’s important to know that backups aren’t all created equal. There are major differences in the advantages of cloud backups and local backups, and they can have a big impact on your overall IT recovery time.

Set Up Your Remote Workplace Ahead of Time

During a disaster, you’re thrown into a state of flux. To normalize the disaster situation and get work back on track, it’s beneficial to establish remote workspaces ahead of time.

These spaces come equipped with the fundamentals – personal workstations, WiFi, printers, and phones. Working together with the rest of your team out of these locations drastically reduces any chance of operational confusion while increasing collaboration and overall productivity.

To operate efficiently in these remote workspaces, you’ll have to provide a functioning backup from which you will operate. Typically, you’ll work from here until you complete the rest of your IT recovery.

Invest in Cloud-based Remote Applications

One of the biggest benefits of using cloud-based applications is their inherent flexibility. Though you may suffer from a disaster at your physical location, business-level cloud applications continue to operate from multiple secure data centers across the world.

That means you can work from anywhere and anytime without worrying about loss of productivity. Investing ahead of time by switching to cloud-based applications significantly reduces the overall downtime stemming from the disaster recovery process.

Your Road to IT Recovery

Combining all four factors will significantly reduce your total recovery time and get your business back on track to success.

Disaster recovery is a difficult process, but taking it step-by-step and planning ahead is the key to thriving. If you’d like more tips on what you can do to prepare for disasters, or if you’d like to see how we can help you plan ahead, feel free to reach out to us.

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