Whenever a natural disaster or high-profile data breach occurs, many organisations find themselves inadequately prepared to ride out the storm. Although such incidents continue to raise awareness and drive more stringent regulation of business continuity, many companies still don’t have an adequate disaster recovery plan in place.
Most organisations still rely on traditional disaster recovery templates which are usually ineffective during a crisis. What’s needed instead is a strategic plan that’s constantly updated to reflect the ever-changing conditions of your business, as well as the ever-evolving threat landscape. With that in mind, let’s explore five of the myths holding businesses back from having a proper disaster recovery plan.
Myth #1. Backup Is Enough
Virtually every business leader appreciates the importance of backing up company data, but there’s much more to disaster recovery planning than backups alone. Every bit as important is where and how your data is backed up, and how long it should take to restore it following a disaster. After all, periods of unexpected downtime when your team struggles to get everything back up and running can be just as costly, if not more so, than the loss of data itself. Backup is merely one part of the greater disaster recovery plan, and it’s not nearly enough by itself.
Myth #2. Data Is Vulnerable in the Cloud
Although there’s no denying that constant reports of high-profile data breaches have made some people question cloud services, it’s also important to understand there can be some pretty big differences from one cloud provider to the next. Most reputable cloud service providers can offer much stronger security than a small business operating without a dedicated IT department.
Myth #3. You Can Do Everything Yourself
The possibility of handling your backup and disaster recovery yourself might sound like a good idea, particularly if you’re trying to save money. However, despite myriad DIY online storage services, it’s important to recognise the fact that online storage and disaster recovery are two very different things. While there’s nothing stopping you from cobbling together a bunch of different products and services to build your own disaster recovery infrastructure, it will likely end up costing more and missing something important.
Myth #4. Disaster Recovery Is Your MSP’s Job
Moving your data to the cloud is an important step when it comes to keeping it safe, but that’s all you need to do to protect your business from disasters. Don’t make the mistake of assuming a managed services provider will automatically take care of your data according to your backup and disaster recovery requirements. The fact is, while almost every MSP offers disaster recovery, it usually comes as a separate package, and it will be your responsibility to make sure you have the necessary agreements in place to manage your data once it’s been moved to the cloud.
Myth #5. DRP’s Focus Only on Major Incidents
Many business leaders assume disaster recovery planning focuses only on major incidents like flooding, theft or fire. However, the most common threats to business continuity are hardware failures, data breaches, and network outages. They might not sound catastrophic, but they’re often capable of causing damage severe enough that you could end up having to close your doors for good. That’s why disaster recovery planning needs to focus more on the continuity of the services your organisation relies on than the severity and nature of the disaster itself.
Austin Technology is a full-service IT company in Perth and is here to help your business prepare for any eventuality with robust disaster recovery plans and modern technologies you can depend on. Call us today to talk to one of our experts to assist with either creating a DRP or amending an existing plan.
