As man-made and accidental technology disasters increase, business continuity and recovery have become top priorities for all industries. It’s no longer a topic that can be pushed to the side, since no business is free of disasters. Businesses can guard against downtime by crafting a thoughtful, thorough backup plan.

Why Downtime Must Be Avoided

Downtime may once have been treated as an inconvenience, but now it can quickly become very expensive for your company. Sales cannot be disrupted if your company is to meet its targets. But the trouble caused by downtime runs even deeper, as downtime could land you in violation of government regulations, fail your investors, and disappoint your customers. Too much downtime will generate a mountain of complaints.

For example, financial services companies are required to shut down if they have been down for thirty minutes. Since these firms would rather be open, they take extra measures to make sure downtime is measured in minutes, not hours. Larger firms can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if their business continuity is disrupted. It’s possible to plan the amount of downtime expected based on the disaster recovery system you choose.

Preparing for Unexpected Events

Naturally, businesses try to plan their futures months in advance, but disaster is usually unpredictable. There are various disaster recovery plans to consider, such as virtualization, which is among the most modern solutions. Virtual machines allow you to run multiple unique systems on one server. This method automatically compartmentalizes each operating system so malware cannot spread to other segments. Virtualization also allows you to switch to a backup server while restoring your primary server.

Virtual machines can fail, which is important to bear in mind, especially when you mix physical and virtual infrastructure. Many virtual server owners assume no other backup is necessary, but it’s still helpful to have other backups in place, particularly for mission-critical applications, which are given priority in a backup scenario.

The next step in preparing for the unexpected is testing your continuity plans. Many IT firms don’t take the necessary time to test applications and data to guarantee swift and simple recovery in the wake of a disaster. The entire system should be regularly tested to make sure recovery is a smooth process. You should test the database, operating systems, and all applications every month.

Why Mobility Helps

Mobile devices are the perfect tools to help you through a disaster. It helps when your business doesn’t have to rely on hardware to store data. You can store your data in the cloud and implement a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy. This method works well with a mobile device management software solution, which provides security policy controls.

Every business needs a business continuity plan to prepare for and respond to an unexpected disaster. If you need to upgrade to a more experienced service, contact us at Idealstor. We help you protect your data from cyber threats and provide solutions for maximum continuity.