Is your company disaster proof?
We live in a digital world and businesses today operate in a virtual environment with hundreds of thousands of electronic documents shared between companies and individuals every day. Businesses rely on terabytes of data stored electronically to function on a day to day basis and stay operational. Customer records and product information is all stored electronically so that it can be accessed on demand by managers and staff. Employees are dependent on electronic information to complete tasks. With so much of our critical information stored in electronic format on desktops and web servers around the world, the importance of disaster recovery becomes pivotal for any business.
In the event of a disaster – manmade or natural – companies need to be prepared to be able to restore data that is vital for the survival of their business. This calls for a well thought out business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Every company needs to have one as just about every business in existence today relies heavily on a continuous flow of data. A business continuity plan allows companies to recover data in case of an emergency.
Although most companies consider disaster recovery important, many business owners are not willing to spend too much time or money on it. The situation is compounded by an “it won’t happen to me” attitude particularly in areas where businesses consider themselves safe from natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. Little do most people realize that data loss isn’t linked solely to natural disasters – it can be triggered by a host of other factors. The occurrence of viruses, malware and hacking is on the rise and a considerable amount of data is at risk as a result. In addition, data loss can also be caused by human error, theft, power outages and fire.
Just how prepared are most businesses to deal with the threats posed to data security? According to the Stamford, Connecticut, research and advisory firm, Gartner, only 35% of small to medium sized businesses have detailed disaster recovery plans in place to meet any eventuality. That doesn’t sound very reassuring. The following results underscore the effects of such low levels of preparedness amongst businesses. A recent report released by the University of Texas revealed that only about 6% of companies survive from catastrophic data loss. 43% never manage to reopen while 51% close within two years. Add to that the following statistics:
- In the US, a laptop is reported stolen every 43 seconds and a security breach is reported every three days.
- 31% of PC users have lost all of their files due to events beyond their control.
- 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster.
- 93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster.
- According to the NFIB National Small Business Poll, man-made disasters affect 10 percent of small businesses, whereas natural disasters have impacted more than 30 percent of all small businesses in the U.S.
- 50% of businesses that were without data management filed for bankruptcy immediately.
With these statistics in mind, it’s clear that businesses that want to remain in existence need to develop elaborate plans according to their business needs in order to minimize downtime caused by a disaster. For this purpose, they should expect the unexpected. Business owners and managers need to examine the risks that threaten uptime and develop a comprehensive written disaster recovery plan which ensures that business operations are able to recover from physical, natural or computing disasters. The absence of such a plan can spell doom for most businesses, a scenario most owners wish to avoid.
There are no comments yet, add one below.