CoreVault has released guidelines to ensure organizational safety and expedient data Relevant Products/Services recovery in the event a catastrophe strikes.
The managed backup and recovery solutions provider said that forward-thinking companies in severe-weather-prone area should take maximum precautions when preparing for disruptions caused by tornadoes and other natural disasters.
The US experiences more tornadoes each year than any other country in the world.
In 2008 alone, there were 1,691 confirmed tornadoes reported in the US, second only to 2004 with 1,817 confirmations.
Tornadoes cost roughly USD $2 billion in damages and 125 lives lost each year.
Jeff Cato, vice president of Marketing for CoreVault, said catastrophic storms affect businesses in the United States each year.
He said this meant companies must take a more proactive stand on protecting their data in a more secure and off-site manner, especially those in high risk areas.
"Preparation and proper planning is the best defense against extended downtime in these situations and having a proper disaster recovery plan in place can make the difference between keeping or losing one’s business," he said.
According to Disaster Recovery Planning: Managing Risk and Catastrophe in Information Systems, companies that experience a computer outage for more than 10 days will never fully recover financially, and 50 per cent of companies suffering such a loss will be out of business within five years.
Five things organizations of any size can do to ensure business continuity in the event of a catastrophe are:
- Develop a written disaster recovery plan that identifies systems and assets critical to business continuity
- Establish a disaster recovery team with assignments and training that leverages employee strengths in order to address the difficult and stressful task of rebuilding operations after a disaster
- Identify a physical recovery location to restore business operations should the organization’s physical location become unusable
- Update and test disaster recovery plan processes on a regular basis like performing recovery drills to assure reinstatement of both physical and digital assets. In addition, testing the functionality of IT systems is also critical
- Protect business database Relevant Products/Services, email and all important Electronically Stored Information (ESI) off-site at a trusted managed backup and recovery provider’s information vault
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