Disaster
Recovery

For businesses, there are a variety of potential disaster scenarios that require preparation. Among the most common of these are: intrusions by hackers, loss of access due to malware or ransomware and unintentional data-loss events. Depending on where the business is located, you might also experience natural disasters like fires, tornadoes and floods.

Given both the complexity and potential expense of implementing a comprehensive disaster recovery management plan across the entirety of their IT network, many businesses opt to employ a third-party solution. This option greatly simplifies the process for many businesses. It also often proves to be the most cost-effective option for ensuring complete security and recovery capability.

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Businesses must be able to quickly recover from a disaster. A prolonged operational disruption significantly increases the risk that the business will not recover from the event—ever.

Consider these alarming statistics from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA):

·      40% to 60% of businesses never reopen their doors after a disaster.

·      90% of small businesses that are unable to recover within 5 days will shutter completely within a year.

·      After 2 years, only 29% of businesses that initially survived the event are expected to be still operating. The rest are forced to close their doors.

 

Where do the costs add up?

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·      Idle workers who continue earning wages but are unable to perform their job duties because of the disruption. A prolonged productivity loss can be extremely costly.

·      Physical damage to infrastructure, equipment or the building itself, as in the case of severe natural disasters.

·      Lost revenue due to the curbed operations or an inability to collect or process payments or deliver products to market.

·      Complex data recovery that requires hiring additional outside resources and specialists.

·      Repair or replacement of technology components, such as hard drives, network hardware or other equipment.

·      Reputation damage that can occur if customers, clients or vendors perceive the business is not secure or at risk of further disruptions in the future.

Businesses can significantly curb the costs of a disaster in each of these categories by making sure it can recover more quickly after a disruption. That is why disaster recovery management is so important.