Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving. Maybe everyone sat around the table and shared what they’re most thankful for.
Was having a Disaster Recovery Plan on your “I’m Thankful for…” List? It sure was for one of our clients!
Image this, you leave the office on Friday at 5 looking forward to the weekend. Monday morning comes around, you walk into the office and find that the a pipe burst on the second floor! Water is everywhere and has destroyed everything in its path! What would you do? Well, for our client – Once the water was turned off and preliminary stop gaps were put in place, the first call was to The Garam Group. We jumped right in and took all the necessary steps to protect the remaining infrastructure and had everyone up and running with no data loss by Tuesday afternoon. This was only possible because all the right measures were taken to ensure a disaster recovery was possible. Data regularly backed up to the cloud. Cloud-based VoIP phones. Email through cloud services.
When faced with a disaster, it’s common to take inventory and re-evaluate your own situation and how you’re protected from various disaster situations. We have an extensive survey to fully assess your environment. Here are a few questions you should be asking?
Data Loss / Ransomware
- What data is most critical to your business?
- How many days of lost data could you sustain? One Day? One Week? One Hour?
- How much loss can you sustain? Deleted/Destroyed files? Lost a Server? Building?
- How long can you be without your data in the event of a loss/corruption/ransomware?
Email Loss
- Do you have regulatory requirements for maintaining email?
- What if a disgruntled employee deleted their mailbox before quitting?
- What if your entire mailbox was encrypted from ransomware?
- How long can you be without access to email / be unavailable to clients via email?
Phone System Outage
- What impact to your business would you experience if your phone lines were down?
- How long can you sustain an outage?
- Is your phone system capable of supporting Work from Home/Anywhere?
- Can your phone system adjust to a sudden need or change in your availability?
Internet Loss
- What impact does a loss of internet access mean to your team?
- Do your clients depend on a resource hosted at your facility? If so, what impact to your business would it be if they couldn’t access that resource?
- How long of an outage can you sustain?
Scams and Security Breaches
- What protection/safe guards/insurances do you have against an employee falling for a financial scam? (ie, gift card, money transfer, etc.)
- Does your team know how to identify a phishing scam?
- How secure does your team keep their passwords?
Insurance Considerations
In addition to information systems and data, losses will extend to your building and physical infrastructure. Our friends at Gannon Associates Insurance can help you prepare for the worst and make sure your covered correctly if it happens. The Risk Management team at Gannon’s suggests that all businesses, regardless of size, develop a business continuity plan so their organization is ready when a business interrupting event strikes.
The inability of an organization to respond quickly and effectively to a disaster could mean a loss of business, customers, market share and/or access to services. It’s not uncommon for extended down time to result in a business never reopening. A business continuity plan can help an organization regularly evaluate events that may adversely affect the company, its customers, assets, or employees. Your plan will help restore critical functions and meet obligations to customers, vendors and shareholders.
While insurance alone cannot guarantee recovery, an organization should consider combining its business continuity plan with proper insurance coverage. In addition to discussing your disaster recovery plan, Gannon Associates Insurance can help determine your coverage needs, such as business interruption coverage, extra expense coverage, continued employee payroll coverage and other important options.
The Garam Group has worked with the Gannon Associates team for over 20 years as both a vendor serving their IT/VoIP needs and as a customer of their services! We highly recommend reaching out to them with your questions! Gannon Associates – www.gannonassociates.com – 844-GANNON7 (426-6667)
Vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and gaps are constantly being discovered and exploited. Disaster Recovery Preparedness and Threat Protection is a constantly changing effort that requires layers of protection. Working with trusted advisors is a must when it comes to assembling the right plan for you, your team and your business.
If you have questions or concerns after asking yourself the above questions, reach out to The Garam Group for a complete Security Assessment.
The Garam Group – www.garamgroup.com – 315-473-9600
