It may sound like a line out of a futuristic action movie, but the reality is that disaster can strike at any given moment. As a developer who depends on protecting confidential data and accessing important files, you absolutely must have a plan in place to combat and prevent disaster from damaging your business. Otherwise, you may end up suffering the dramatic effects of lost data.
5 Reasons Why a Disaster Recovery Plan is Necessary
It’s hard to ignore the fact that today’s businesses are surrounded by increasingly dangerous threats. From seismic natural disasters of recent years to the rise in cyber attacks and malicious online behavior, it’s no longer an option to sit back and hope your business doesn’t encounter any issues.
“No matter which analyst firm you ask, the answer is always the same. Disaster recovery (DR) is a vital safeguard for any organization,” states Zetta, a leader in cloud recovery solutions. “But these same analysts also agree that too few firms have implemented disaster recovery effectively.”
Is your business part of this segment that’s wholly unprotected against disaster? If so, it’s imperative that you take action now. Here are a few of the specific reasons why:
Malicious Cyber Attacks
While the industry is certainly becoming more aware of cyber-attacks and now understands how to identify and prevent many of the dangerous attacks that have occurred in the past, the criminals on the other end are also becoming much savvier.
Global cyber-crime costs are projected to reach a figure close to $2 trillion by as soon as 2019. This means things will get worse before they get better. Cyber-attacks aren’t something you can hope don’t affect you. Fail to plan and chances are pretty high that you’ll be targeted.
Hardware Failure
Did you know that 53 percent of organizations can only tolerate an hour of downtime before they begin to experience significant revenue losses and other adverse business impacts? Furthermore, of those businesses that experience significant and prolonged downtime, 30 percent never recover. This means a simple failure in hardware – which is unfortunately all-too common – could put your business in a damaging downward spiral. That’s not a risk you should be willing to face.
Compliance and Industry Regulations
In many industries, disaster recovery plans are actually required for compliance. This means you may not be able to do business without first drafting a plan and processing it with the appropriate parties. While this can seem like a nuisance at first, it’s a positive sign that your industry is on top of this pressing issue.
Human Mistakes
While you may assume that most lethal threats are lurking outside of your organization’s walls, it’s entirely possible that you have additional risks facing you on the inside. Human mistakes – whether strategic or unintentional – are a huge issue.
It’s not uncommon for large organizations to be exposed to “inside jobs.” With a strong disaster recovery plan in place, you can mitigate some of this risk and make it harder for both blatant and innocent mistakes to occur.
Saves You Money
The final reason for drafting a disaster recovery plan is pretty straightforward: it’ll save you money. Avoiding even a single disaster will make your plan cost effective in the long run. That’s a strong investment!
Do You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan?
As you can see, your business – just like every other organization – faces numerous threats day in and day out. While you may feel like you’re fully protected from things like cyber-attacks and employee mistakes, the truth is that no company is safe.
