Disaster Recovery Planning

In the early 1990’s I worked for a company that was based in Miami Lakes, Florida (Just north of Miami by about 15 Minutes). The company was a distributor of electronic components shipping its goods worldwide. The time was a little over a year after Hurricane Andrew had devastated Homestead Florida leaving many with a little more than rubble for homes and businesses. This was my first exposure to disaster recovery planning. I was on a corporate committee that not only had to develop and deploy a plan; we also practiced the plan quite often due to the frequency of Hurricanes that came close to south Florida each year.

Disaster recovery planning can be approached from many different angles to find an effective result. I find the most important question to ask is; how long can your business survive without the ability to provide your products or services to your clients? This question is a great indicator of how much time and effort should be spent on recovery planning. From the information technology world, this does not mean just making sure your valuable data is backed up. The goal of disaster planning is to make sure your business continues to function as normal as possible when the unthinkable happens.

In Minnesota, we frequently deal with power issues due to thunderstorms and tornados. In the winter we deal with getting around when heavy storms block us in. Whether we are dealing with Mother Nature, thieves and vandals, or user error, one thing holds true is that normal business has been disrupted and your plan needs to work. Take some time to review your plan to make sure your business is covered. I have listed below a few questions to help with this process to give you a gauge on where you are at on your planning.

• Do you have a data backup in place and will it still function if someone is out?
• Is your backed up data stored offsite?
• Are your servers and data kept in a secure area?
• Are passwords changed frequently?
• Do you have an inventory of your hardware, applications and license keys at a remote location?
• Do you have a designated location to work from if you are not able to access your current building?

In 2006, Bob Huber of Minnesota published a book and a kit to help small businesses with this very challenge. Mr. Huber’s experience of over 20 years in planning for large corporations saw a need and developed his Emergency Response Planning Kit. This is a very thorough guide to help small businesses plan and implement a complete recovery process. You can find more information at www.usgerp.com about Mr. Huber’s company and his planning kit.

We all get wrapped up in the day to day operation of our businesses and forget that things can happen in a snap. Take some time and look at your plan to make sure your business can continue servicing its clients when issues arise. We have become so dependent upon our access to email and data that this makes a great place to start your planning process. Don’t assume that this will take care of itself because it won’t. Remember to test your plan frequently so there is no question that your business is prepared.

Jeff Holds is an IT consultant and partner at Phoenix Technology Solutions. Phoenix Technology Solutions, LLC is a provider of computer hardware, software, and I.T. services helping small & medium businesses in the Twin Cities run secure & reliable networks.