Disaster Recovery
Disaster Recovery
There is so much stuff flying around of a) a virus takes down your servers, b) a fire or earthquake destroys your servers, c) a terrorist attack, and (I love this one) d) the price of electricity is going so high, that we can't afford to keep all the servers up and running.
You name it, there is something out there that will force the data to be lost, destroyed, or something where continuance of business will be disrupted.
But, you know, the one thing that is rarely, if ever discussed out there, is the loss of personnel. The loss of the people or person(s) who man your call center, who pack the trucks, who manage those servers.
Of course, we have all had bosses (or could be one of these bosses) that says, people are replaceable, information is not.
I can understand this sentiment - to lose three months of a billing a cycle and not knowing who has paid and who hasn't, can definitely affect the bottom line.
But, what about losing the entire shipping staff, who can pick that job up, quickly? Or the HR department, who can process the claims and paychecks?
Of course, you can always hire others to come in and do, but, seriously, think about it - tomorrow, you lose a whole division of your company (a product BU, or HR, or IR, or R&D, etc.). How would your handle it?
Some questions/issues you should think about:
1) Who can step in and manage the division (either if you have to hire all new people or just replace some of them (i.e. their manager))?
2) Who can step in and DO the job of the division (can you replace people in the division with internal employee's)?
3) Who currently can manage other divisions for a short duration?
4) Who currently can do other divisions work for a short duration?
5) How many vendors do you have lined up to step in and do a divisions work (this can be a temp. agency, an IT company, etc.)?
6) If your building(s) are destroyed,
a) do you have an alternative site prepared (wiring, desks, etc.)?
b) do you have the capability to draw people/employee's in in this new location?
These are just a few questions that need to be asked and answered. We have pages of questions that break down every bit of information that may need to be written down - but, it should open your eyes.
Yes, be concerned about your data and how/where it is stored and protected. But, don't forget the little guy - the employee that makes the company.
Data is worthless sitting on a server with no power or connection. An individual is required to make this happen - think of them when you are planning your disaster recovery - or, in other words, think of them not being available when you are trying to recover.