Winter is Coming: Time to Revisit Disaster Recovery
What happened in Buffalo, NY in 2014 is a reminder to all businesses to practice disaster recovery.
Businesses in Upstate New York that had a disaster recovery plan will have had an easier time recovering from the colossal snow storm. It’s difficult to imagine the difficulties facing the businesses that didn’t have a proper strategy.
For those who missed it, Upstate New York was hit by a record-setting snowstorm. Here’s a description of the aftermath:
In Lancaster, Orchard Park and Cheektowaga, three of the area’s hardest-hit towns, cornices of ice and snow blanketing house roofs dipped down like frozen custard toppings, merging with snowbanks that towered eight feet from the ground.
Forget about businesses trying to contact clients. People were lucky if they were able to open their door to exit their house. There was so much snow that entire towns were stuck inside.
Winter is coming, and storms like this could happen at any time. Businesses here in the north should be used to this threat and have disaster recovery procedures in place. And even if you’re located in the southern states, it seems like no one is safe any more after 2013’s polar vortex.
The lesson here is that whether it’s snow or rain, hurricane or tornado, disasters happen. You can’t do anything to stop it. What you can do, however, is plan a disaster recovery strategy.
Disaster recovery strategies help businesses restore their operations after devastating storms. You should include several factors in your plan, such as:
- a source of data backup, such as cloud computing
- an internal communication plan
- an external communication plan
- employee training
- an official company policy
All of these factors will prepare you and your employees for the worst. If you plan properly, then it doesn’t matter if your city is hit with three feet of snow. Your data will be backed up, your employees will know what to do, and your clients will know that your operations will be restored shortly.
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