Top 5 Technology Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Tips

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Top 5 Technology Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Tips

At PearceIT we are passionate about technology and this month we are sharing with you our Top 5 Technology Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Tips to make sure you are always open for business.

#1 Reliance on Data – How long can your business survive without any access to your data?  Minutes, hour, days?  Depending on your requirements there are a variety of solutions which can help you to get back to work with the minimum of downtime (if any).

#2 Security – Do you know how safe is your data is?  If you are still using External Hard Drives or USB sticks you may be at risk and need to consider your options seriously. Data on these devices is easily accessible after theft as well as being a single point of failure.  Do you send un-encrypted e-mails to your customers or store personal data on your PC’s?  The Data Protection Act insists that all personal data is held in a secure form and many institutions insist on this data being held in an EU or UK only datacentre.

How secure is your WIFI?  Do you have a secure password to enter to log onto your Wi-Fi and do you give these details out to any contractors or staff for their personal devices?  Corporate Wi-Fi should be kept for corporate use only.  If personal devices are to be used then we would always recommend a separate guest Wi-Fi is used.

#3 Business Continuity – There is a common misconception that this is the same as disaster recovery but there are key differences. Business continuity is essential to those customers who can’t afford downtime for a single point of failure in any system.  If your data is held on a single PC on a single site what would happen if there was a fire/data/breech/hardware failure?  Can you access the same data on another device? Is this automatically replicated? Can you continue to provide the same service to your clients without the data or information being available to you?  We would like to share an important case study with you that shows business continuity in action. You can read it here.

#4 Telecommunications – The big what if…   Whether it’s the man with the JCB who cuts through your cables or your building suddenly becomes inhabitable would you still be able answer your clients calls and be open for business? Do you have the facility to have your calls diverted to another device? Do they automatically failover to mobiles?  Can they be remotely diverted in the event of failure.  Do your critical answerphone messages come through on e—mail to your smart phone? VOIP phones (Voice Over Internet Protocol) enable this to happen and is one of our recommended solutions to ensure your business can still function should the worst happen.

#5 Printing – If your printer broke down would you have a business break down?  For many of our clients such as GP Surgeries, School and Garages the ability to print information for clients and customers is essential.  If you are printing more than 2 reams of paper per month not only can we save you on your printing costs but should your printer break down we can ensure that it can be replaced or fixed the next day.

Act Now:  Call us today if you have any concerns that your data is not as secure or regulated as you would like it or it needs to be..  We can arrange a FREE no-obligation consultation to assess your requirements to make sure everything your business needs is available to you.