We have all heard the horror stories of simple mistakes that lead to costly business disasters. According to a National Small Business Poll, manmade disasters affect 10 percent of all small businesses and 30 percent have been impacted by natural disasters.
A simple power outage could put your whole business at risk — such as bringing your business to a grinding halt because your data was compromised. And it’s not just your business that’s at risk in the short term either. Many businesses deal with long-term ramifications. In fact, research by the University of Texas has shown that only six percent of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss survive, 43 percent never reopen, and 51 percent close within two years.
The hard fact is that no business is invincible when it comes to IT disasters. That’s why a speedy recovery based on a well-crafted IT disaster recovery is vital to your long-term success. Too many businesses fail because they were ill prepared for an IT disaster, even when a simple solution like online backup could have easily saved them.
The purpose of a business continuity plan or a disaster recovery plan is to prepare your business in the event of extended service outages caused by factors beyond your control (e.g., natural disasters, man-made events), and to restore services to the widest extent possible in a minimum timeframe.
If your business hasn’t yet considered creating an IT disaster recovery plan, it should be on the top of your list of priorities. Here are five reasons why you should create or update your business’s disaster recovery plan.
Hardware Fails
Most devices fall short of a perfect track record. As a result, no company is immune to hard disk or internet connection failures. While it can be costly for your small business to eliminate every point of failure in your network, it is the only way to insure that a hardware failure doesn’t disrupt your business in any way.
Humans Are Not Perfect Either
Even the most cautious among us can forget a step that results in an IT error or data loss. Often times the most important way to prevent human error is by implementing process improvement and quality assurance processes, such as having backups as a safety net.
Your Customers Expect Perfection
The internet has not only forced companies to be more transparent and accountable, but also increased competition. With increased competition come lower prices, better service, and less forgiving customers. Most customers demand perfection because they know that if your company can’t provide it, your competitors will. It’s imperative not to give your customers a reason to leave because of something preventable like an IT service outage that takes your business offline.
Finding New Customers is Costly
It’s much cheaper to retain an existing customer then to acquire a new customer. It takes a lot to earn customers’ trust, and you can’t afford to lose it. However, an IT disaster, like loss of data or an extended outage in service, instantly erodes your customers’ trust in your business. It’s much less expensive to prevent an IT disaster than it is to regain lost customers or find new ones after an IT disaster has occurred.
Your Business is as Strong as Your Weakest IT Link
No business is immune to IT disasters, but there are many things you can do to prevent them or quickly recover — like having an IT disaster recovery plan in place. If there is a weak link in your IT network, you’re business will always be vulnerable.
When you secure your network, including backing up your systems and data, you can rest assured that you’ll be prepared to get your business back up and running after the devastation of a disaster. A team of IT pros at a reputable outsourcing firm will help you keep all of your bases covered — so your business can is prepared for any situation.
The IT pros at Gulf South Technology Solutions can help you formulate the best recovery plan for your business to make sure your data and information is safe from any possible disaster.