If you’re a business manager, business owner, or corporate executive, you’ll probably agree with me that your data are the most value asset you have when it comes to the survival of your business if a disaster should strike.

“U.S. Department of Labor estimates over 40% of businesses never reopen following a disaster. Of the remaining companies, at least 25% will close within 2 years. Over 60% of businesses confronted by a major disaster close by two years, according to the Association of Records Managers and Administrators.”  - About small business info

It’s alarming that over 40% of businesses do not reopen following a disaster! So my question to you is:  What are you doing to prevent this from happening to you? Disaster could come at any time and in many forms, including a major storm, fire, flood, theft, data corruption, hard drive failure, and even national disaster.

This is why I’m taking the time as an IT consultant – specialized in helping small and mid-sized businesses, organizations, associations, and small corporations – to help you take action to protect your data.

Before you begin a backup and recovery (BDR) strategy, it’s critical that you consider the following questions to ensure that your solution is well planned and meets your unique needs:

1.       What type of information does your data/system contain?
Different organizations value different data, and data comes in different types. Some contain rich media files such as mp3s, large graphic images, and video files, while others might feature business forms, applications, customer relation management (CRM) data, account data (QuickBooks), and SQL databases. Some data may need to be backed up while other types might not.

2. How often does the data change?
How your data changes from day to day determines the frequency of your data backups. Data that changes on a daily basis needs to be backed up more frequently than data that only changes occasionally.

3.       How quickly would you need to recover?
Depending on your business practices, some files will need to be accessed more quickly after a disaster than others in order to get back up and running as soon as possible.

4.       What system/utility should you use to perform the backup?
Once you determine exactly what and how to backup, you’ll need a system or utility in place for your backup system to work affordably and efficiently. There are many options to consider, including external devices, tapes, and online systems.

5. Who will be responsible for the backup and recovery plan?
This is a very important consideration. Who is your contact person for the backup, and who is monitoring it to ensure that backup jobs are running properly and are verified regularly? There are monitoring systems that can make this easy.

6.       What is the best time to schedule the backups?
It’s usually advisable to run backups at midnight, when there is less activity on your system.

7. Do you need to store your backup offsite?
What good is your backup if it is stored at your office, where the disaster probably happened? It’s a common best practice to have tape or external discs rotated to minimize exposure to site emergencies.

As you can see, there are many issues to consider as you create your BDR plan. You just need to research the options available (Google and Bing provide good resources), or of course you can contact me directly:  Femi Dada at Smarthost Design Technologies – I’ll be glad to help you wade through your options.

In my next post I’ll talk about the types of backups available and various options to meet different needs for data backup and recovery plans.

About Smarthost Design Technologies, LLC
Smarthost Design Technologies is a certified Microsoft Technology Partner company, assisting and supporting SMB businesses and organizations in meeting their Information Technology (IT) requirements and challenges. Smarthost Design offers a unique breed of IT Services that includes server, network infrastructure design, and support maintenance agreements with a flat monthly fee, helping businesses reduce costs and maximize the value of their IT investments. We can be reached at 301-576-1122 ext 101 or email info@smarthostdesign.com