Do You Have the Right Disaster Recovery Services?

Are you fully prepared for business continuity in a disaster or emergency? We’ve seen multiple versions of this in recent years. From backup server locations that are flooded to debilitating ransomware attacks, the last few years have shown us that capable disaster recovery services are an absolute must.

Having effective disaster recovery services and a practiced disaster recovery plan can make the difference between a small bump in the road and an obstacle that leaves you broken down on the side of it. Businesses without effective disaster recovery solutions can be set back significantly by disasters both natural and man-made. Luckily, preparing for these things is just a matter of following some basic, but crucial, steps.

Have a Plan

You won’t anticipate every kind of disaster, emergency, or cyber-attack that can happen. Have a plan that you know you can implement, and that can be adapted to fit unforeseen events. In other words, leave flexibility in it.

Delegate

In the event of a disaster, you may think you can handle it all, but this isn’t wise. Build delegation into your plan. Trust others to enact certain elements of it without your micro-managing. This leaves you free to practice your own strengths and address larger issues. Don’t build the plan so that you have to look over everyone’s shoulder as they implement it. Give yourself freedom to handle the unexpected.

The Right Services

Much of this depends on securing the right disaster recovery services. This is where a platform like Azure Recovery Services comes in. By taking yourself off the need for on-premises backup, and making yourself able to switch devices on the fly, you loosen one of the most constricting limitations during a disaster: you free yourself from geography.

Plan for Flexible Resources

Azure Recovery Services allow you to access information and operations from the cloud, well secured and guarded by access and device rights you can manage. Your business continuity solution isn’t tied to a vulnerable location, and your access isn’t tied to particular devices that may be off-limits in a disaster. This allows you to adapt the work environment however you need to in order to continue business operations as normal. You’re not bound to your location or initial resources; you can expand these as you need, when you need.

Practice Your Plan

This is an important step many organizations overlook. You practice other plans you have in case of emergency. You practice fire drills. Why wouldn’t you practice a disaster recovery solution? If you’ve done it before, then when it happens for real, you aren’t taken by surprise. You can adjust as if you’ve done it before – because you have. Practice a plan so that your employees are comfortable with what they have to do. This also allows you to spot and iron out potential human error or miscommunication. If you hammer this out in practice, it won’t impact you negatively, waste time, or cause stress when you’re implementing your disaster recovery solution for real.

Business continuity in case of emergency is vital. It’s much more stressful to have a faulty or incomplete plan in place than it is to take the steps toward implementing a complete one. Make sure you communicate, create a flexible plan, secure the right disaster recovery services, plan for changes in resources, and practice it before it’s needed.