Author: Guest Contributor / Source: Data Economy
by David Zimmerman, CEO of LC Technology
When a business of any size encounters a “blackout”, they lose access to the most precious company resource – data. Companies run on data, and firms that don’t want to lose customers or damage their brand should have a process in place for recovering from data loss and quickly moving forward. Thankfully, businesses can take steps to proactively lessen the chance of complete data blackout.
Develop a Detailed Plan
The first move companies should take to protect against a data blackout is to develop a plan. The plan should answer the big questions – what data do we have; where is it; who controls it? Creating a plan forces staff at all levels to think about data as an asset and their role in protecting data. The plan should not only dictate how data is stored and secured, but also categorize the information, for example by separating static data from fluidly-changing data.
Evaluate and Test the Plan
Testing the plan is essential to gauging how people and systems will respond to an emergency. Create benchmarks to see how long it takes to recover data from the cloud or offsite physical storage. IT should be able to follow a certain path immediately after data loss, so the rest of the business can continue working with minimal interruption. Deviations to the plan that are uncovered during testing should warrant a review of training procedures and review of the plan itself. Testing the plan should involve using various metrics to ensure you are not violating internal or regulatory policies, using proper encryption, and are performing tasks within certain timeframes.
Embrace Redundant Redundancy
Preventing a business “blackout” means preparing for contingencies. Consider what can go wrong and plan accordingly. Moving services and data to the cloud is a good move due to its falling costs, improved security, and reliability, but you should also consider using some on-premises storage. Your business needs constant access to data, and with…
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