Advantages of an effective disaster recovery plan for small businesses

Here at Creative Network Solutions, we are Preston’s leading IT support and network services experts. From secure remote access services to business VoIP, we are the team you can count on. And this is our guide to everything you should know about disaster recovery plans for small businesses.

What is a disaster recovery plan?

A disaster recovery plan is a detailed plan or outline that notes the particular steps that will take place to help your business recover from an emergency situation or disaster. This will usually include:

  • Details of immediate first steps
  • Details of the personnel responsible for these steps
  • A recovery time objective
  • A recovery point objective

This disaster plan is designed to prevent panic and give detailed, easy to follow information about what should be happening, and when, to help your business recover from a disaster.

What are the most common disasters for small businesses?

There are a range of business disasters that can occur to any business, no matter how large or small. These disasters include:

  • Physical damage- fires and floods are unplanned disasters that can cause disaster to any business or company. If physical damage is caused to your property, or to your hardware, you could lose access to your data. This could keep your business offline for a substantial time, and it could also set your company back by weeks, due to loss of data. A disaster recovery plan can prevent this prolonged down-time and help get your company back up and running as quickly as possible.
  • Ransomware- a ransomware attack on any company can be catastrophic. This is a type of cyber crime that involves encrypting all of your data and forcing you to pay a fine in bitcoin, in return for access to your files. However, while your data is being held at ransom, it could have already been mined, with sensitive information and financial details leaked online. A disaster recovery plan can help to mitigate the effects of ransomware, and speed up the recovery process.
  • DDoS attacks- Dedicated Denial of Service attacks involve taking your website offline through extreme traffic to the servers. While this isn’t always as devastating as ransomware, it can cause a wide range of issues for your company.

What are the advantages of an effective disaster recovery plan for small businesses?

There are a number of advantages and benefits to establishing an effective and detailed disaster recovery plan. These advantages include:

  • Reducing down time- the amount of time that your company is out of action for following a disaster event can be reduced by having a disaster recovery plan in place. This is because you will not only know exactly how to respond, and which steps to take, but you will also have probably taken steps to protect against the worse possible outcomes, including investing in off site backup and cloud solutions. This means that your loss of earnings will be dramatically reduced too, and any damage to your company reputation will also be mitigated.
  • Practical steps- a disaster recovery plan provides detailed and practical steps to take depending on the situation your company is in. This can be a real lifeline in terms of the emotional response to a disaster, and can help you keep moving in positive steps towards a full recovery.

For more information or advice about your network security, systems, or disaster recovery, why not get in touch with the experts today, here at Creative Network Solutions.