For many years, a large percentage of businesses have operated day-in and day-out without giving a second thought to their data backup plan. As long as someone in the IT department was periodically performing tape backup then all was considered fine. The challenge today however is that businesses are dealing with unprecedented amounts of data – both from their own internal staff and that of their customers.
Planning for the unknown and spending money on something that you aren’t sure is going to happen can be a hard pill to swallow for many companies, but taking care of your business often means formulating strategies for ‘what if’ scenarios. Recent research by the University of Texas has shown that only 6 percent of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss survive, 43 percent never reopen and 51 percent close within 2 years. So clearly being prepared is your best defense.
Still not convinced? Here are five reasons why a disaster recovery (DR) plan should be among your company’s top IT priority.
1. You may have compliance requirements
Many businesses today that deal with sensitive client data are required by law to ensure they have an adequate DR plan in place. For legal firms, their client data is the lifeblood of the organization. For healthcare companies, the thought of losing client medical records can not only compromise your business but as well create unwanted legal and public attention. The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability) Act of 1996 was devised primarily to protect the confidentiality and security of client healthcare information. As a result, HIPAA compliance requires businesses to have a DR plan that significantly reduces the risk of patient data loss.
2. This is one way to create competitive differentiation
In a recent business poll over 50% of businesses currently using a cloud-based DR plan feel that their DR strategy brings them a competitive advantage. Why? In a fast-paced competitive market with greater commoditization of products and services, getting back on your feet faster than your competitor after any natural disaster certainly gives you an advantage.
3. Stuff happens
Let’s face it. We have all heard or have experienced the horror of having our PC crash. Now exponentially grow that likelihood and the outcome of that catastrophe is unimaginable. On average, 15,000 hard drives fail every day somewhere around the world. Think about your finance or sales primes losing their hard drive and it’s not hard to understand how impacting that can be on your business performance.
4. Nature is unpredictable and so are humans
You don’t need to look farther then New Jersey to see the effects that a hurricane can have on businesses. Hurricane Sandy made it difficult for many of the businesses located in the 19-county impact zone in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to recover. All told, more than 1 million businesses (representing 1,000 different industries) that fell inside that zone experienced significant difficulty in recovering. Add in human error or deliberate sabotage and the negative implications rise exponentially. In airports, train stations, buses, restaurants and other public places, an average of 15,000 laptops go missing every week. Think about the intellectual property that disappears when that data is not backed up.
5. Customer re-acquisition is extremely expensive
With more competition and a shrinking global market, customers become savvier and less forgiving. Interrupt their service level once and they could disappear forever because your competitor is waiting around the corner to offer them a deal they can’t refuse.
Nobody is invincible from a disaster of small or large magnitude, so the key is to ensure that you not only have a plan in place to prepare your business in the event of a disaster, but that you also have a solid plan for recovery when you need it. You can bet that your customers and your business partners would agree.
Contact Compuville Systems today to learn about our disaster recovery and data backup plans. 1-866-300-5151