Do you think backup and disaster recovery (BDR) plans are only necessary for large businesses? Actually, these plans may be even more important for small business owners who stand to experience significant losses if they can’t access their data and systems. Take a look at four reasons why you shouldn’t do business without a data backup and disaster recovery plan.
Reason #1: You’ll Be Protected from Cyber Attacks
These days, cyber attacks, or attempted attacks, are inevitable. Although you can’t prevent every attempted cyber intrusion, you can ensure that your data is protected with a comprehensive BDR plan. If an attack does occur, downtime will be minimal because you took steps to back up and protect valuable company and customer data.
Reason #2: You Won’t Have to Worry About the “What Ifs”
No matter how well designed, your systems aren’t indestructible. All sorts of things can go wrong, from floods and fires to a server crash to employee error. When you have a BDR, the what ifs won’t keep you up at night. No matter what happens, your BDR plan will ensure that your information is protected and your data is backed up in an off-site location.
Reason #3: Malfunctions Won’t Slow You Down
If you’ve ever dealt with a crash or other problem on your own, you know how time consuming it can be to get your system up and running again. As you try to figure out what to do next and who to call for help, your entire company comes to a standstill. Employees can’t work without access to your IT systems and customers can’t order products and services.
BDR plans spell out every possible scenario and solution, eliminating uncertainty and wasted time. Thanks to your plan, efforts to restore your information and get your website and systems operational can begin the second you experience an outage, mechanical failure or intrusion.
Reason #4: You Won’t Annoy Your Customers
Downtime costs money. In fact, the Gartner Blogs estimates that every hour of downtime costs businesses an average of $300,000 per hour. Every minute that your system is down or you can’t access customer data, your business suffers. If you have a significant outage or frequent problems, customers will soon find other companies that don’t have the same issues.
A good BDR plan also includes provisions for safe storage of sensitive customer data. Although security breaches have become an almost everyday occurrence, they’re anything but routine as far as your customers are concerned. When customers don’t feel they can trust you with their personal information, they’re bound to start considering their options.
SOHO Solutions Can Help You Develop the Ultimate BDR Plans
Running a small business is hard work that consumes a tremendous amount of your time. Too often, despite your best intentions, creating a BDR plan falls to the bottom of your “to do” list. That’s why it makes sense to hire an information technology consulting firm that understands the needs of small businesses and can create a plan that will keep your systems and data safe if the worst should happen.
When your BDR strategy includes SOHO Solutions’ Ultimate Support Plan, outages and other problems become minor inconveniences. Thanks to unlimited technical support for network devices and desktops, issues are quickly identified and resolved before they can significantly affect your bottom line.
Could you use some help developing a data backup and disaster recovery plan? Contact us to learn how we can assist you in protecting your company’s valuable systems and data.