The unfortunate fact with business technology is that there are always going to be vulnerabilities and threats that could become a detriment to your everyday process. Technology disasters come in all forms, from natural disasters to employee mistakes to malicious security breaches. Because of this, businesses need to have a plan in place that will help them recover from these disasters, without experiencing too much downtime. Having a fast disaster recovery plan is going to help you get your business back up and running before too much damage is done. Without taking the time to develop a plan like this, you are taking a number of risks.
5 risks your business faces in the absence of fast disaster recovery
Too many business owners take on the mindset of “it won’t happen to me” when it comes to protecting their technology. They hear of these potential disasters but don’t want to believe that it’s a very real possibility for their business. These businesses tend to experience a significant amount of damage when these incidents do inevitably occur. The way around this is to have a plan in place to bounce back quickly and effectively. Without taking this precaution you are risking the following major hindrances to your business.
Data loss
Your business relies on its data. If you lose it, you risk the continuity of your day to day processes as well as your foundation. Data loss can come in many forms and is really impervious to nothing. This is a scary thought, but it’s one that can be addressed and its vulnerabilities can be improved upon. However, without a proper fast acting disaster recovery plan, you risk permanently losing that data. The loss of data can have an effect on the rest of your business operations which will be hard to fully recover from.
Business operations
When you experience a disaster, with no way of efficiently recovering, you run the risk of prolonged downtime. When your business isn’t running, you’re losing money. Losing business data means you’re losing the information you need to run your business effectively and for your employees to do their jobs. If you have no backup plan to recover from a disaster, you are spending more time figuring out how to get your operations back to normal. Every minute you spend searching for solutions is another minute your business is not operating at full capacity.
Financial loss
As you are spending downtime scrambling to find a solution to your technology disaster, you are losing more and more revenue. If you or your employees aren’t able to access the information to do their jobs correctly, you can’t properly conduct your business. The time you could save by having a plan in place would avoid this issue altogether. With a fast disaster recovery plan, you will have prepared for the worst and when the unforeseen hits, your business will have a way to bounce back, quickly and efficiently.
Loss of clients
You’ve probably built up trust within your clients as you’ve conducted your business over time. They are loyal to your product or services, but that’s assuming you are operating at full capacity. When you start to run into that downtime, they are going to be questioning when you will be back to giving them the product or service they expect. With a fast disaster recovery plan, it’s more likely you will be able to give them an answer they’d be happy with. Without a plan, you risk losing clients due to the extended downtime.
The other side to this would be if you are storing customer information in regards to the product or service they are buying from you; losing this information for an extended period or permanently is not going to sit well with your client base.
Inability to recover
In the most extreme cases of disasters, businesses may experience setbacks that would be too difficult and financially burdensome to recover from. Without a plan in place the issue could compound upon itself with more data lost, more downtime experienced, and more client departures. Eventually, the cost to reverse the issue becomes too much for a business to afford and ultimately results in that business folding. The risk involved in not having a proper, fast disaster recovery plan in place, is far too great for any business. Giving yourself that safety net will prevent this worst case scenario.
Protecting your business is crucial
You work hard to keep your business productive, generating customers and keeping them happy. The last thing you want is for an unforeseen disaster to throw a wrench into the entire operation. By not having the proper precautions and a detailed plan in place, you put your entire business at risk. By implementing managed IT services and partnering with a trusted technology partner like Valeo Networks, you get access to a customized, well thought out plan to account for any type of disaster. We will work with you to break down your plan and make sure all possibilities are accounted for. When it comes to your business, you can’t afford to take any risks. Get your free network assessment and IT roadmap today so that we can work to protect what matters most.