Why Your Chicago Business Needs a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

Disaster Plan Key Shows Emergency Crisis Protection

No matter your business, at some point your sensitive data will be at risk. This could be a result of machine malfunction or human error, system failure or a natural disaster. If you don’t have adequate protection in place such as a backup and recovery plan, you could lose everything. A BDR should be a part of your insurance procedures should the worst happen. Having a BDR makes sound business sense and here are some factors you may not have considered when thinking about creating your BDR.

Business procedures

Putting a BDR in place means examining your company to find the most critical applications and data, a.k.a those things you simply can’t run without. This means taking a hard look at your operations, your software and how everything works together. This is a good time to look at what slows your operation down and cut out unneeded and outdated apps and running procedures. This will help to make your data faster to recover should a crisis happen as you’ll know exactly where to find it, which services you need back online straight away and which can be rebooted later on. This is also a good time to work out how long you can go without critical services before there is damage to your Chicago company. How much does downtime cost you? Prioritizing needs to be a part of your BDR planning process.

Dark data

Dark data is information that you no longer use or need that is still hanging around in your files and using up your storage. This can cost you money if you’re using cloud services. Examining your files gives you the chance to get rid of this useless information which has dual benefits. Not only does it mean there is a lot less data to recover, so you gain full working operations faster, it also makes you less of a target for hackers. Less information means less profit for them. You can also consolidate your servers, streamline your applications and procedures and become much more efficient.

Money saving

Clearing out your useless work cycles and data means you save money. IT has become increasingly important to businesses so cost savings and efficiency are increasingly important. Having a solid backup and recovery plan means that your newly refined IT processes are safer and your IT budget is being spent wisely.

Makes you money

How can a BDR make you money? By ensuring that you remain open to sell your product or service. Remaining operational means your profits don’t stop. It seems obvious, but many people only learn this through bad experiences.  Every time your Chicago business encounters issues, large or small, your ability to operate is compromised. Even if it doesn’t totally stop your interactions with customers, it’s a drain on your resources and that lowers your profit margin considerably.

Having a solid BDR plan keeps this from happening keeps your business functional when you need it most.  If you’re looking to implement a BDR and don’t know where to start, contact Stratosphere Networks.  Our experienced IT professionals can help you decide a plan of action to ensure your business stays operational in the event of disaster.

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