Focus on Business Continuity and Disaster Prevention to Lessen Disaster Recovery Time

Developing a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that combines disaster prevention and business continuity strategies will encourage a shorter disaster recovery time. This involves shifting our focus to business continuity interim planning first, and then developing a long-term plan for returning to normal operations.

Here are some tips for taking quick action in the midst of a disastrous situation.

Tips for Action to Counter Disaster

1) First determine what is needed to maintain business operations at the minimum level. These identified processes will be used temporarily until systems are back to normal operating levels. The goal here is to stay up and running at all times.

2) As soon as possible, alert and apologize to those who are affected by the disastrous situation. Offer
compensation that is appropriate to help alleviate the occurrence. Honesty breeds respect. Determine the policy of what is to be stated to those affected and provide reassurance that everything possible is
being done to correct the situation. Let it be known that proactive steps are being taken prevent the
incident from happening again.

3) Call for a company-wide team effort. Your staff should come together quickly to get things back on track. Keep an open mind and consider suggestions from those who work closely with your client base, such as those from your Sales and Customer Service Department. Collect and weigh their ideas for feasibility.

Tips to Prevent Disaster and Focus on Business Continuity

1) Develop training manuals and update them regularly.

1.a Create a disaster recovery training manual. The manual basics should also be incorporated in the policies and procedures manual. The content should detail what steps employees need to take to ensure business continuity. Train staff and answer questions during this critical this time to make sure that everyone understands company policies and procedures and is on the same page.

1.b Put job description training manuals in place before employees are hired. If manuals are updated annually, this curbs a disaster of a different nature from happening. Training manuals are "insurance" for when an employee suddenly leaves the place of business for whatever reason. This could be due to an employee retirement, relocation, or career change. Also, consider creating a quick reference sheet for training a stand-in when an employee goes on vacation. This will free up your trainer's time and will also help to curb mistakes because the tasks are in writing. Use the manual and quick reference sheet as valuable tools for training. Keep in mind, without manuals in place, you are paying your staff additional time to train, and this takes away the time allotted for other needed tasks. With manuals in place, trainees are brought up to speed faster.

2) Walk through reality based "What if" scenarios. For instance, "What if this (incident) happened?" and "What would we do to get up and running as fast as possible?" This method is suited for utility issues such as electrical, gas, water sources and natural disasters such as wildfire, hurricane, and flooding. Adequate insurance coverage is a must to alleviate these natural and unnatural disaster effects. Along
with other factors, base your need on your location, the likelihood of the type of disaster occurring,
and the business you are in.

3) Backup your data frequently. Your business type and activity will determine if real-time backups or weekly backups are recommended. Use a secondary backup location if possible. Consider if hosted online storage is a possibility for your business. Data content management and records management will be primary factors in avoiding data-duplication and increasing storage space.

4) Encrypt passwords and limit staff access to those who need it in order to do their jobs. Be diligent
in implementing prevention efforts to deter security breaches that arise from stolen laptops, viruses, spam and other cyber attacks. Add a password to your screensaver. Disaster prevention means implementing security efforts. We can no longer just backup data. We need to secure it with encrypted passwords that make it difficult for those with unauthorized to access to view. Eventually, we may need to make sure that those who have authority to remove equipment from an office have adequate security at their home-office and other locations in which they work.

There are many more steps that can be taken, however, true disaster recovery solutions work best when they are customized based on a company's specific and unique profile. Even though businesses have commonalities based on industry type, they are unique in their policies, procedures, missions and locations.

Focusing on business continuity and disaster prevention shortens disaster recovery time. Therefore, if we focus more on business continuity, we may realize enhanced reassurance in our day-to-day operations. We will know that there are alternate plans in place which enable our businesses to remain up and running in spite of a disaster-type situation. To increase your chances of successful planning, start with small projects and work outwards. You will find that these efforts are worthwhile in saving time, money and are imperative to the success of your business continuity strategy.