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business builder technology
by Kris Garvey
As the owner of a growing business, you have a great deal to worry about — from bringing in new business to finding affordable office or warehouse space to putting the right people in the right positions.
You may have overlooked something that is, perhaps, most vital to your ability to stay in business: a disaster prevention and recovery plan.
Disasters occur all the time and come in all shapes and sizes — fires, floods, tornadoes, computer viruses, power outages. A disaster of any kind can destroy your company’s electronic data and records — literally wiping your business out for minutes, weeks or even months.
A disaster prevention and recovery plan ensures that if a disaster were to happen, your company’s information is safe and you can continue doing business as usual.
Create a plan
Before you move forward with any specific disaster prevention and recovery tactics, it’s necessary to first get strategic.
Sit down and think about your business mission and priorities. Identify the electronic data or information that is mission-critical — vital to your company’s ability to conduct business as usual. Think about the types of disasters that could strike your business and the implications of those disasters.
The objective is to sort out the various issues and set priorities that must be considered so that a cost-effective approach to disaster prevention and recovery can be developed. By honestly assessing your risks and needs, you will be well poised to create a disaster prevention and recovery plan that makes sense for your business.
Some potential questions to ask during this planning process include:
• Is my business prepared for a loss of information, a loss of access or a loss of personnel?
• What information loss would be most damaging to my ability to conduct business as usual?
• If my financial records were destroyed or compromised, how would that affect my business?
• If the server is down for several hours, will my employees be able to continue performing and at what capacity?
• If my Web site goes down, will my customers be able to reach me or place orders?
• What information stored on the network is imperative to my ability to run my company?
• What is my threshold for the suspension of “business as usual” — minutes or months?
Ounce of prevention
Prevention as it relates to your electronic data means creating a defensive barrier against viruses, worms, spyware and spam. In other words, prevention is about ensuring the security of your technology, your network and all your electronic data — important information such as financial records, customer records, databases, and software imperative to your ability to conduct business.
It used to be that a virus was only spread if you inserted an infected diskette into your computer. But “blended threats,” as today’s advanced computer security threats are called, combine to attack your technology infrastructure and the information housed within it on multiple levels.
These threats can be imbedded into files on a server; they can be transmitted to a Web site visitor’s computer; they can be sent via e-mail.
Because today’s security threats are so complex, a multi-layered defense that includes antivirus software, a firewall, content filtering capabilities, and vulnerability management should be employed.
All preventive solutions should achieve the following three goals: identify and remove threats; fight against inbound and outbound attacks; provide ongoing security of both the network and the information contained within it.
Recovery stage
While certain threats and risks — such as viruses and worms — can be prevented, many disasters simply can’t. For example, you can’t prevent a flood, tornado or even a power outage from striking your business.
Disaster recovery refers specifically to the recovery of information that could potentially be lost in a disaster — information you need to stay in business, like those financial records, customer records, databases and software mentioned above. Therefore, planning for recovery is just as important as planning for prevention. By preparing for your potential recovery needs, you ensure that your electronic data is safe and accessible if and when necessary.
As you can imagine, if all your electronic data and infrastructure technology is housed in one location and one location only, your business is quite vulnerable should disaster strike. Two viable considerations for ensuring recovery include either mirroring your electronic information off-site or mirroring your entire business off-site.
Mirroring your electronic information off-site means storing an exact replica of your electronic data at a second secure location — basically setting up your backup server off-site. This is an ideal solution if you need mission-critical data to conduct business but not necessarily an office in which to house employees.
Mirroring your entire business off-site means actually renting other office space at a second location — complete with phones, computers, servers, Internet access, and so on. If you need to ensure that some or all of your employees are in one location and there is absolutely no downtime should a disaster occur, this is your optimal solution.
If as a business owner you feel that you simply don’t have the time or know-how to protect your business, ask yourself this: How much money could your company lose if disaster struck and you were ill-prepared?
The answer to that question will help you decide what’s necessary for your business, whether an employee dedicated to managing your technology or an outsourced firm handling everything. Whatever you decide, make sure you’re prepared to recovery quickly from disaster.
Kris Garvey is marketing manager at VISI.com, an Internet service provider in Minneapolis: 612.395.9000; kg*****@**si.com; www.visi.com
