Nothing is worse than running a successful small business, only to see it negatively impacted by forces outside of your control—such as a natural disaster, cyber-attack, economic catastrophe, or even a global pandemic. All of these can result in devastating circumstances for your small business.
Between 40% and 60% of small businesses never recover after suffering an unexpected disaster. What makes this even worse? 75% of small businesses have zero plan to help them recover from these major disasters.
Don’t run the risk of never opening your doors again. This is why it’s so crucial when growing a small business to have a disaster recovery plan, so that even when the unexpected happens, you can be prepared to be back on your feet in no time, protect your bottom line, and save your business.
[Related: How to Prevent a Data Breach]
What is a Disaster Recovery Plan?
A disaster recovery plan is a step-by-step set of guidelines that can be updated and amended depending on the circumstances. The plan will go into effect during any sort of unexpected disaster that may threaten your small business and compromise your data––whether it’s a hurricane or a cyber-attack.
All employees should know about the plan and be trained for their part in each step in the recovery process so that your business can get back up and running in no time at all.
Create a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Report
A business impact analysis (BIA) works to help everyone understand the effect that certain instances will have on your business, depending on what the incident is, when it takes place, and how severe it is.
Meet with everyone on your team and work together to identify the scope and subject matter of your BIA. Have them tell you which duties they perform, and what would happen if one or more of these things are compromised. How will this impact running your business?
Make sure you are also meeting with an IT representative so that they can clarify how certain disasters—especially ones that deal with fraud or data breach—will impact operations. Understand and take inventory of all IT assets, including software, hardware, and where your data (and backups) are stored. Have a reliable data backup system in place. Your business plan should include steps to protect or restore function to these assets.
Recovery Resources
Based on your report, decide on the recovery strategies and resources needed to lessen the impact and restore operations. Take note of all the data you need to perform backups on, consider contracts or collect information on emergency relief services and government aid options, and create a gap analysis to figure out where you are financially and what you will need to operate “bare-bones” until you’re completely back on your feet.
How much downtime can your business tolerate? What do you need to deliver your products or services—or at least keep everyone updated—in the moments following a disaster?
[Related: How to Spot and Stop Common Scams and Get the Tech Support You Deserve]
Designate Roles and Test Plan
Once you figure out what you need to restore operations after a disaster, begin designating certain tasks to team members and ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to their role. If possible, conduct tests for your disaster recovery plan and make necessary changes so that when it actually happens you’ll be able to resume operations smoothly.
Review Your Disaster Insurance Coverage
Review your current insurance plan and make sure there are no lapses in coverage that could cause issues when disaster strikes. Make sure you have enough coverage that it will help alleviate financial strain business-wise as well as physical damages. If needed, you can purchase additional insurance add-ons to protect you against certain disaster risks.
Partner With a Solid IT Company
One of the most important steps you can take when preparing for the unexpected is to partner with an experienced and skilled IT company like CMIT Solutions of Richardson. CMIT not only helps with data recovery, but can also prevent cyber-attack disasters before they even happen by protecting your data and helping your business apply the best practices for data security.
We provide essential IT services to small businesses everywhere, Check out our cybersecurity solutions, data protection and backup services, how we can help your business navigate cloud hosting, and more. Contact us today and let’s get started.
