Disaster recovery plans have been around long before the creation of the cloud. Back in the days of early personal computing, paper was the main source of data storage that companies depended on to recover critical company information in the event of a disaster. The location of the stored data was usually in a physical place, such as an underground storage facility, some that were climate controlled to preserve the information as long as possible.
Today in the Cloud
Since those days, computing and disaster recovery plans are no longer limited to giant corporations or governmental agencies. Every business, large or small, has an abundance of data stored on their hard drives and servers. The idea of a business not being dependent on a computer system to store and retrieve company data is unheard of. Because of this, every business needs to have a disaster recovery plan in place.
Advances in technology and the wide acceptability of mobile devices in business have led to the off-site storage of data in the cloud. This allows immediate access to a wide range of company information to remote locations or from a mobile device. Current trends have companies becoming more and more likely to use cloud storage regularly in their day-to-day operations.
Having a Plan
Security is only one consideration for companies who are using cloud storage as a way to access company data. If disaster can strike an in-house system, the same can be true for a cloud-based system. It is important to remember that with the cloud there are a number of people who are continually dependent on accessing its information, and should the cloud be inaccessible it can cause lost profit and potentially damaged customer and client relations. This makes the creation of a plan essential.
At the center of a cloud disaster recovery plan is the service license agreement, or SLA. Here is where the terms of the recovery plan are spelled out and the actions to be taken in the event of a disaster are designed. The company performing the recovery needs to know exactly the business requirements for getting back on line. Even such hidden issues such as what happens if the disaster recovery company has a disaster itself, needs to be considered.
Management Governance
The plan should be created with all potentially affected parties involved in the discussion. There may be some feathers ruffled when determining which departments and services are at the top of the list to get back on line, but the most important consideration is to get the company operational and productive as soon as possible. Though management will have the final say on the order of priority, all departments need to be included in the creation of the plan.
Before thinking that a cloud disaster recovery plan is unnecessary because of the small size of your company, ask yourself how long your company can remain operational and profitable in the event of a cloud outage. Businesses, whether for better or worse, are largely dependent on computers and technology to conduct its day-to-day operations. Creation of the plan is a relatively simple effort that doesn’t take long to complete. There are a number of details to consider, and the final result will be unique to your business. You can then rest easy knowing that you can conduct business as usual.
