Written by John Allen - President and COO of G&A Partners (with adaptations)
George Washington once said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” The same could be said about a business being prepared for disaster; it is certainly the most effective way to preserve peace of mind. In the event of disaster or even a simple hardware failure, would your company’s critical information be secure? It depends on your answer to these questions:
- Does your business have processes in place to systematically replicate and secure data that is critical to its ongoing operations?
- Does your business house its backup data in a location that is geographically remote from its primary location?
- Do multiple employees know how to access the backup data to maintain business operations?
If you answered no to any one of the questions, your company may not be prepared for a disaster. You’re not alone. Many small or midsize companies do not have a fail-safe disaster recovery plan in place, but failing to develop a plan can be costly for you and your business when you consider the less tangible costs that result from business downtime (lost sales, lost customer goodwill, lost productivity, missed contractual obligations, increased costs incurred when attempting to make up these losses). Having an established recovery plan helps a company quickly recover data and restore normal business operations to minimize potential costs.
In its “Summary of ‘Lessons Learned’ from Events of Sep. 11 and Implications for Business Continuity,” the SEC recommended that businesses operate with two or more widely separated active sites for critical operations so that one provides inherent backup for the other. The strategy addresses a number of key vulnerabilities, including:
- Eliminating dependency on availability and relocation of staff;
- Reducing the likelihood of telecommunications single points of failure;
- Supporting maximum geographic separation; and
- Assuring business continuity through actual use rather than infrequent and less-than-complete testing.
Obviously, creating and maintaining redundancies is costly and impractical for many small to midsize businesses. However, partnerships with professional service firms can help to serve the same purpose. Professional Employer Organizations, such as ESG, manage integral administrative functions - including human resources, benefits, and payroll processing for their clients. Subsequently, they can protect certain critical data by housing and maintaining redundant systems and administrative files for clients at a separate geographical location.
Historically, most professional service companies (PEOs, legal firms, accounting agencies) would never consider themselves in the data storage or recovery industry. Following Sep. 11 and subsequent disasters like Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike, such firms now recognize this as an added benefit they provide their clients. For more information on how ESG can help protect your company, please contact us at 888-810-8187.