As a Florida business owner, you’re likely well-versed in physical hurricane preparations should a warning be issued for your area. But, what about your data, which is perhaps more important to protect and recover than your business’s physical elements? Hurricane preparation and disaster recovery should play a part in your Florida business’s emergency planning.
Prepare and Practice Your Plan
First and foremost when it comes to hurricane preparation and disaster recovery, you must have a disaster preparation and recovery plan in place. Identify what applications are critical to your daily operations, select essential data to backup, establish offsite storage, acquire remote equipment and access, and identify key personnel. These are big decisions that can’t be decided when you’re in the midst of a hurricane, so identify them and solidify them ASAP.
Furthermore, your plan will not go off without a hitch unless you practice it. Organize a planning team with key staff members, test the plan, and then train your team through drills, recovery testing, and mock disasters—simply establishing a plan or practicing it once is not enough. Schedule regular training sessions and tests to ensure that when disaster strikes, your crew will be prepared to act.
Backup Your Data
As a small business, you simply can’t afford to lose company data—even if the loss is caused by a natural disaster! This is why data backup is so important. Without access to your data, your business operations will immediately come to a screeching halt. Work with a managed services provider (MSP) to ensure backups are performed regularly and that all data is stored in a safe, secure, and reliable facility.
Prepare to Operate Remotely
As a hurricane approaches, you likely won’t be able to access your facility, whether roads are flooded or closed. Some employees won’t be able to leave their homes during a state of emergency or may not be willing to leave their families. This is where remote planning will save the day by enabling operations to continue no matter what. Remote technology will allow employees to access the network regardless of the state of your office or building and work from virtually anywhere to ensure no business or service disruptions.
Choose the Right Partners
A recovery services provider will allow you to quickly and easily recover and resume business processing and operations. The provider will ensure your staff has network lines, workstations or desks, phones, and everything else needed to continue operations. These vendors also provide other vital services like day-to-day office operations, check processing, printing, and mail handling to keep your business afloat during a disaster.
If your physical office location has sustained structural damage, these services can help facilitate speedy recovery, reducing your risk and increasing your peace of mind. The key advantage of working with a recovery services vendor is that you can continue doing business seamlessly while knowing that customer confidence has not been disrupted.
Partnering with an MSP is also an essential step in hurricane preparation and disaster recovery planning. An MSP will respond quickly to any disaster-related data losses and system outages to ensure your business operations continue and your customers remain satisfied.
To learn more about how these kinds of IT services can help your business stay protected in case of a disaster, contact Axiom today.