Learning About Computer Services

Four Things You Need to Do Now to Prepare for a Disaster

by Hector Meyer

Historic flooding from Hurricane Matthew has left numerous businesses underwater, destroying much of buildings' contents and rendering the physical sites inaccessible for days. In regard to virtual disasters, hackers have been known to break into a company's private information, making it unusable. Make sure your company is ready for a disaster, be it natural or man-made, by implementing the following procedures.

1. Implement Recovery Software

It's every business owner's worst nightmare: an attack by a hacker leaves months, or even years, of data unusable. Fortunately, with virtual-disaster recovery software from a company such as BluPointe, you can access all of the information in an unaltered state.

Recovery software saves all of your data to a cloud that can be accessed from any location. It also functions as a storage mechanism for your company's files. Though you can back items up to a cloud manually, using software automates the process. Even the most recent employee inputs are saved to the cloud, ensuring that all information is saved.

2. Have an Emergency Response Plan

Whether the emergency is a hurricane, tornado, or facilities attack, you need to have an emergency response plan. Your employees should be familiar with the emergency response plan so that they know what to do should the unexpected occur. 

Items to take into account include emergency exits, evacuation routes, and protocol for dealing with an dangerous individual on site.

Make sure that emergency phones numbers are easily accessible.

3. Come Up with a Communication Strategy

In the event of a natural disaster, you may not be able to return to the work site for a while. It is essential that you and your employees be able to effectively communicate. Possible ideas include group text messages, mass emails, a private chat room, or conference calls. 

It is advisable to have a couple of different options, since natural disasters are known for shutting down power and Internet service.

Make sure that any method used for sensitive data is secure.

4. Keep Some Items in an Off-Site Facility

Some disasters render everything in your business's physical location unusable. Prevent this by storing some items in an off-site storage facility. For example, when practical, keep extra inventory and equipment at another spot. Obviously you want to make sure you have everything for day-to-day activities at your main business site, but it makes sense to keep items reserved for future use at another site.

If your employees use laptops or other portable electronics, have them take them home each night (as long as the proper security procedures and precautions are in place).

Unfortunately, disaster causes some businesses to permanently cease operations. Get your business up and running as soon as possible by sticking with these strategies.

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