The Hurricane Katrina Disaster has lessons for all business
owners. Now is a Good time to look over your Disaster recovery
plan and see if it would survive a Hurricane Katrina Type
Disaster. You may be surprised how easy and cheap it is to have
a Disaster Recovery Plan that will protect your business from
all types of Disasters from simple theft to a Hurricane Katrina
Like Disaster.
As a small business paying for 3 backup data
centers might be more like taking a Ferrari to a bicycle race.
For many small businesses the key is to have critical data ready
and available as soon after a disaster strikes as possible. If
you run your business off a computer or even a server then an
offsite back-up of key customer and vendor data is a minimal
requirement for a good Disaster Recovery Plan.
Most of your Major Fortune 1000 Companies have extensive off
site back up plans. A company based in St Louis for example may
contract with 2 or 3 companies around the country to provide
essential computer services in case a Disaster occurs in St.
Louis that makes it impossible for their Data Centers to
continue to function in St Louis.
Major Companies in St Louis may have backups in 2 or 3 remote
sites like Chicago, New Jersey and Arizona. These Sites are
located in different directions and distances from St Louis.
Once a year this company may send key Data Center employees to
these location to test the back up plan.
As a small business paying for 3 backup data centers and
running annual test might be more like taking a Ferrari to a
bicycle race. For many small businesses the key is to have
critical data ready and available as soon after a disaster
strikes as possible. If you run your business off a computer or
even a server then an offsite back-up of key customer and vendor
data is a minimal requirement for a good Disaster Recovery Plan.
At one time My own personal Disaster Recovery Plan consisted
of placing a tape back-up weekly in a safe deposit box in a bank
a few miles from my home based business location. If the Area of
my home had suffered a Hurricane Katrina like Disaster even if
the bank and the contents of that safe deposit box survived the
Disaster that backup may not be available to me for weeks or
months. Clearly a delay of weeks or months could mean the end of
my business.
Keeping Data in an Off Site Local location is still a good
idea so you can have fast access to your data and recover from
small disasters like fire or theft that only effect your
location. Clearly in light of what we learned from Katrina you
may want to mail a DVD backup to a trusted friend or relative in
another part of the country. A 2nd solution you may want to
consider is a service that backs up your computer daily via the
Internet. Clearly you would want to make sure the provider you
choose for this service is not lo acted across town.
A lesson to learn from Hurricane Katrina is that 1 or even 2
back-up plans may not be enough. You need to judge how valuable
your business is to you and possibly mail a DVD to one or more
trusted associates in remote off site lo actions and still
maintain a local and Internet back ups as well.
While you may not be able to fly cross country for a week to
test your back up plan, you could test your back-ups by trying
load them on a 'clean' computer.
About the Author
Mike Makler Offers Financial Services (Mortgages,Life Insurance,
Annuity) in Florissant Missouri which is in North St. Louis
County Missouri Just Across the Bridge from St. Charles Missouri
Call Mike at 314 398-5547
Visit Mike's Web Page:
http://ewguru.com/finance
For Missouri Specific Insurance and Loan Questions:
http://ewguru.com/Mo-Finance
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Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler
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