Hurricane Katrina made us aware of what could happen if businesses do not protect their Information Technology (IT) systems.
What can be done to ensure that if there were a natural or man-made disaster, your company would keep running with no issues? The answer is an IT Disaster Recovery Plan.
This vital tool is lacking in many organizations around the country, and it could probably be the reason many will lose tons of revenue and vital information that would have been intact if they would have taken the time to write one.
The following steps will assist you in planning your own IT Disaster Recovery Plan.
Step One: Risk Analysis Conduct a thorough investigation of all the risks that could plague your IT system.
What could cause a system outage? If you lived in California, then you would think of earthquakes; in Florida, then you would think hurricanes.
After you have a list of possible threats, then create a Risk Log.
This risk log will have the following: 1.
Risk 2.
Probability 3.
Impact 4.
Risk level (high, medium, low) Hint: You can also tailor it to fit your needs by adding more categories.
Some of the risks to look out for that could happen to any company are as follows: 1.
Targeted threats - Instead of randomly finding victims like worms, these are tailored to a company or individual.
2.
Malicious bots - A program that is forwarded to individuals and waits for command by the hacker to infects the systems.
3.
Computer passwords - A serious violation that can leave information vulnerable.
4.
Physical assets- How secure is your technology, such as laptops and PDAs? 5.
Date backups - Backups are very important because if systems go down, these are the ways to get back on track.
Step Two: How Much Would it Cost? Think about the amount of money you need to protect your business from the risks you listed in Step One.
According to DevX.
com, disaster recovery budgets are between 2 and 8 percent of an organization's total IT budget.
Step Three: How Long Will it Take? You have to figure out a time table as to when you want to be up and running after a disaster.
For some companies, they prefer 48 hours, while others prefer 72 hours afterwards.
Test, retest your plan to ensure that your estimated time is correct.
Step Four: Who Will Write the Plan? Management should usually write the IT disaster recovery plan.
However, many companies are starting to hire consultants to assist them with this task.
An outsider will really view a company's approach objectively and will provide better insight than someone that is closely connected to the company.
Step Five: Who Will Manage the Plan? You want to find a team that will ensure that everything is handled according to plan.
In the plan, you want to list their roles and responsibilities, so there is no confusion.
Step Six: What are the usual sections of a written IT disaster recovery plan? IBM has an useful IT Disaster Recovery Plan template.
Go check it out, so you can have an idea.
Conclusion: Writing is sometimes a task.
However, it is a useful annoyance that could save your company a lot of pain by developing an IT Disaster Recovery Plan.
Ensure that you test and retest your plan, so there are no surprises if a disaster were to hit.
Reexamine your plan every year because as we all know, technology changes every moment that passes, as well as external risks.
Protect your company before it is too late; develop your IT Disaster Recovery Plan now.