1. Have a documented IT disaster recovery plan
What will need to happen during or after a disaster for a business to resume operations quickly and effectively? Clearly outlining the action steps that must be taken before a disaster (planning stage), during as well as after a hurricane are critical for effective and efficient data disaster recovery.
Your IT disaster recovery plan should include: list of stakeholders’ roles and contact information, IT asset inventory, backup and restoration plan, as well as your internal communication plan in case of a disaster. Make sure that your plan is understood and embraced by all key players so there are no surprises during a disaster.
2. Keep off-site, cloud backup of your data
From cost-savings to scalability, there are many benefits of cloud storage. Data stored on the cloud can be accessed instantly, which is critical for reducing downtime and recovering data after a disaster.
Businesses can mitigate the risk of losing their data due to a hurricane or another natural disaster by keeping it off-site and away from their local geography. They can also use cloud services as backups that can be tapped to get the business back online as quickly as possible.
For the best solution and support, consider partnering with a seasoned Backup as a Service (BaaS) provider with redundant infrastructure so you can receive dependable data security, data protection and 24/7 support even when your service is down locally.
3. Get a DR failover site in a different geography
One way a business can resume its operations quickly is by failover or switching to a redundant or standby system when it experiences an outage locally due to a hurricane or another disaster. The failover site must be situated away from your local region to ensure that it won’t be impacted by the same disaster, and ideally should be in-land, i.e. away from the coasts and other disaster-prone areas.
Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) providers like Storagepipe have years of expertise maintaining state-of-the-art redundant data centers, as well as hot site and warm site recovery solutions that are backed by 24/7 support to help businesses replicate their systems, restore their IT operations and get back on track after a disaster.
Download our DRaaS Buyer’s Guide to know the top 10 considerations for selecting the right DRaaS partner for your organization.
4. Test and re-test proactively
Testing your backup and recovery plan is the most effective way to ensure that your data, applications and IT systems will be properly restored after a hurricane, and within your desired RTOs. Testing should be conducted regularly, and especially after an application or server goes through a major update to ensure there won’t be any hiccups when a disaster strikes.
Let Storagepipe Help
Having a backup and recovery plan in place is essential for ensuring business continuity during a hurricane or any other disaster. Storagepipe has over fifteen years of experience providing customers with piece of mind that your data is safe and secure – no matter your location. Storagepipe’s affordable Disaster Recovery as a Service leverages cloud-based resources and off-site storage to match your business’ unique needs. Don’t let a disaster disrupt your business operations. Let Storagepipe help you get back online in minutes.