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written
by:
Leonard
Scriven, Senior Consultant, Lightwave Consulting Group
Recently all of us have become
keenly aware of having a disaster recovery plan. Even the smallest
of companies can benefit greatly from having a disaster recovery
plan in place. A company that has a plan in place has a much better
chance of recovering quickly from minor hiccups (like a hard drive
failing) and surviving even the more serious events, than a company
that has no plan in place.
Disaster recovery means different
things to different people - and in this article we will be looking
at this issue from a corporate LAN perspective - big or small. Most
disaster recovery consultants will speak about this topic in terms
of catastrophic events (like fires, floods, hurricanes, etc.);
however, if a utility company takes a back-hoe to your data lines,
could this be considered disastrous? Absolutely, especially if your
company relies on wide area connectivity to conduct business.
Again, for the purposes of this
article, disaster recovery is being defined as quick and efficient
recovery from events that are disastrous to your business' survival.
At the core of technology disaster
recovery are the local area networks (servers, workstations,
printers, etc.) and the wide area networks (data circuits). Their
loss means the loss of a company's data, internal communications,
external communications - with them go day-to-day accounting,
sales, manufacturing, and distribution processes. Although total
disasters are rare, one-half of companies that do not have a
disaster recovery plan go out of business following a disaster;
conversely, loss of 50% of a company's systems could be very
detrimental to the survival of the company.
So developing a plan is essential.
Generally speaking, a disaster
recovery plan follows five logical steps: 1) project definition 2)
risk assessment 3) impact analysis, 4) implementation, and 5)
maintenance.
Independent of your company's size,
there is one question that needs to be asked: How much downtime can
the company afford? The answer to this question varies greatly,
depending on your industry, sales cycle, accounting practices,
inventory management, and frankly, cash flow.
Next time we'll be looking at
costs, risk assessment, and plan development.
Find Out More
For more information on how Lightwave Consulting Group can help your
business please
contact us online or call us toll-free at
1-866-544-4898.
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