How To Survive A Business Disaster

According to the Association of British Insurers, 80% of businesses that suffer a major incident fail within 18 months. However, being prepared in case of emergency with a Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery plan makes sure your organisation is primed to continue core business activities as quickly as possible and avoid potentially disastrous downtime. Consider this, how would your company keep your core business running today if:

One of your key employees was involved an accident?
Floods or snow prevented access to your premises?
There was a major disruption to your power supply?
Your data was stolen by hackers?
Your office and equipment was damaged in a fire?

What Is A Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery Plan?

While there are key differences between the two, some companies merge them together into one plan.

Daniel Brown, Operations Director at Curveball Solutions UK explains, “A Business Continuity plan (BCP) is a documented strategy designed to help businesses prepare for any event that can disrupt business operations, such as a natural disaster, supplier outage or a cyber-attack“.

A Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) considers the tools needed deliver the BCP, it provides the technology to resume business operations quickly, reducing or even avoiding costly downtime.

“The Disaster Recovery Plan adds layers of resilience to the business which should allow the recovery of enough IT data and system functionality to continue core business operations quickly. What is more, it ensures that your service to your clients isn’t disrupted”. Daniel Brown.

What Are The Benefits Of A Disaster Recovery Plan?

As the disaster recovery planning process begins, with detailed research and a comparison of options, it can result in the unexpected benefit of streamlined IT processes by eliminating unnecessary hardware and reducing the risk of human error. In a sense, you are not just preparing to recover in the aftermath of a disaster, you are working to make your business more resilient and profitable.

Benefits of DR Planning

What To Consider When Planning For Disaster

The UK Government provides excellent advice on Business Continuity planning, in which they highlight five business resources to consider:

People
Premises
Suppliers and Partners
Technology
Information

In terms of recovery, quick access to your information and technology following a major event is crucial. Implementing the appropriate tools in advance can drastically reduce downtime and mitigate risk. Although historically disaster recovery technology was expensive, the tools available today are much more economically viable.

Daniel Brown explains, “There are several things to consider in DR planning, such as your budget, the level of risk your business is willing to accept and the type of toolkit that would be appropriate for your business size and needs”.

How We Can Help You Prepare For The Unexpected

Consultation & Advice

Our experts begin by helping businesses devise a DR strategic toolkit that is both appropriate for the organisation and fit for purpose. As we are an independent company we are able provide impartial advice on the best solutions based on business needs.

Installation & Implementation

We can provide and install disaster recovery solutions from our carefully selected partners who offer the most valuable and reliable technology available.

In the event of a disaster

In the event of a disaster taking place, we can assist our clients to resume operations in all core areas. For example:

People	Access to IT expertise
Premises	Remote working capability
Suppliers and partners	Access to alternative suppliers and their support systems
Technology	Replacement hardware and virtual systems
Information	Fast recovery of backed up data