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What is disaster recovery? It is the contingency planning specifically related to recovering hardware & software (e.g. data centers, application software, operations, personnel, telecommunications) in information system outages.
According to SCORE supply chain experts for small business, there are 5 main guidelines to prepare for disaster recovery:
1. “Recognize that your business can suffer a natural disaster. Small businesses the world over have been affected by disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and fire”.
2. “Develop your recovery plan before disaster strikes. Make sure everyone in your company is familiar with the plan and knows what steps to take in emergencies”.
3. “Have adequate insurance. You’ll need coverage not only for property damage and loss (including inventory), but also for business interruption”.
4. “Draw up a list of telephone numbers for all employees. Assign certain employees to call others if disaster strikes. That way, you can learn who is all right and who needs help, and you can quickly communicate instructions about your business”.
5. “Don’t forget your computer system. Keep backup programs and duplicate records (accounts receivable, client information, and the like) at a different, safe site”.
“Businesses will take months to recover from the enormous damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, but here are some things you can do immediately to stabilize your operations’”, says logistics expert Debra Ellis of Wilson & Ellis Consulting:
“1. Hold shipments to the areas that were hit until you verify that customers can actually receive them. Check with your parcel delivery service to determine which areas are unavailable for delivery. While the carrier will hold the items in transit, this increases the possibility of lost shipments.”
“2. Reschedule any future mailings to the affected areas. Even if the pieces are delivered, odds are you won't receive any orders unless you are selling generators or other survival equipment.”
“3. Once things begin returning to normal, establish a relationship with your customers. Send all customers in the affected areas a handwritten note expressing concern and hope that all is well. Offer your best customers a gift certificate or better yet, send them a gift.”
How can you prepare adequately for disasters? As CIO and CSO magazines explain, disaster recovery and business continuity planning are two entirely differently things. The first deals with concrete steps to take after a catastrophe; the second is a long-term, formalized program that is instituted companywide and that swings into action when necessary. To establish the latter, it is essential to conduct a complete business impact analysis (BIA). A BIA will help companies set a restoration sequence to determine which parts of the business should be restored first.
According to research by the two magazines, these are the ten absolute basics that your business continuity plan should cover:
1. Develop and practice a contingency plan that includes a succession plan for your CEO.
2. Train backup employees to perform emergency tasks. The employees you count on to lead in an emergency will not always be available.
3. Determine off-site crisis meeting places for top executives.
4. Make sure that all employees-as well as executives-are involved in the exercises so that they get practice in responding to an emergency.
5. Make exercises realistic enough to tap into employees' emotions so that you can see how they'll react when the situation gets stressful.
6. Practice crisis communication with employees, customers, and the outside world.
7. Invest in an alternative means of communication in case the phone networks go down.
8. Form partnerships with local emergency response groups (such as firefighters, police, and EMTs) to establish a good working relationship. Let them become familiar with your company and site.
9. Evaluate your company's performance during each test, and work toward constant improvement. Continuity exercises should reveal weaknesses.
10. Test your continuity plan regularly to reveal and accommodate changes. Technology, personnel and facilities are in a constant state of flux at any company.
CIO and CSO list the following as the top mistakes that companies make in disaster recovery:
· Inadequate planning: Most companies are not aware of all the critical systems they have, what software resides on them, and how programs can be recovered to the current day.
· Failure to bring the business: into the planning and testing of your recovery efforts.
· Failure to gain support from senior-level managers: This largely occurs because of lack of a BIA, gaps in the proposed recovery model, recovery plans that do not have specific time and business objectives, and not having enough funding to allow for a minimum of semiannual testing.
Many businesses thought that they were prepared for such an event as 9/11 saw many companies focus on a thorough disaster recovery plan. However, in the after effects of the Gulf Coast disaster many found they were still not quite prepared. For example, the focus is primarily on the recovery of technology, but if the people can’t get to it, what happens next? It could mean that business resumption means giving access to data to those who can use it more effectively.
According to a recent article in eWeek magazine there are several lessons to be learned:
· People as well as hardware require disaster-ready backups
· The duration of the disruption dramatically effects readiness
· Size of the affected region must be reflected in the choice of a backup site
· Readiness planning must include partner organizations
Furthermore, if there is a plan, it must be practiced. Take these steps today to begin or enhance your company’s plans for disaster recovery. Our qualified consultants at Navesink Logistics are ready to assess and help design a preparedness plan today.
References:
1. Special Report: Salvaging Your Operations After Hurricane Katrina, O+F Magazine,
September 2005, By Rama Ramaswami
2. SCORE Counselors to Small Businesses (website)
3. Disaster Recovery: Roundtable, eWeek Magazine, October 2005, By Peter Coffee
4. Credit Card Data Security, Loss Prevention Magazine, September 2005, by Robert L. DiLonardo
5. Avoiding the Lightning Strike of Identity Fraud: Is your organization adequately protecting the personal data of your customers and employees? Loss Prevention Magazine, September 2005, by William A. Alford, CFE
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Introduction
