We live in a world where bad things happen. Being able to pick up the pieces successfully and transition operations after a disaster could mean many things to you and your employees. Continued operations might mean an uninterrupted workflow after inadvertent file deletion. But it could also mean a continued revenue stream for your company, continued employment for your team, and potentially even benefits back to the affected community, in the case of a natural disaster. However, there are also benefits to having a disaster recovery plan beyond just restoring operations.
A disaster recovery plan is not exclusively a list of things to do when something goes wrong. It is actually an identification of potential failure points within your infrastructure. Considering what to do when a piece of equipment breaks or a critical file is overwritten provides the opportunity to redesign systems so that the “disaster” doesn’t occur in the first place. Considering redundant systems or different procedures at the outset may reduce or even remove the risk of a potential failure.
Alongside the opportunity to investigate mitigating risk is also the chance to evaluate current operations. A disaster recovery plan should look at 100% of your operations and consider what to do if any of them are disrupted. While evaluating all of your systems, why not also ask yourself questions about those systems? Can operations be consolidated? Can certain man-hour intensive tasks be automated or shifted to a third-party provider? The disaster recovery plan should be looked at as an opportunity to introduce scalability and flexibility into your existing systems.
One frequently overlooked portion of disaster recovery planning is customer retention. If COVID taught us anything, it is that businesses that are not prepared to immediately shift operations to continue serving their core customer base will suffer—perhaps even have to cease operations. Use this opportunity to identify those “core customers” to whom you absolutely must continue to meet your obligations so you can continue operations. Then ask yourself what you can do to improve those customer relations, enhance services, and perhaps even expand your offerings to those that form the central pillars of your business income.
NSC Information Technology Group has all the tools you need to craft a successful disaster recovery plan and implement any changes you might discover. Their careful and painstaking investigations of your infrastructure may discover “soft spots” you were unaware of, and can certainly help improve your day-to-day operations. Contact NSC Information Technology Group today to get started.