6 Reasons Your Company Needs a Disaster Recovery Plan

The emergence of the internet of things, the interconnectivity of digital devices, and the interoperability of networks have shaped the modern business landscape. Unfortunately, despite this infusion, compromise and access to protected systems are underpinning challenges toward successful tech adoption.

Cybersecurity is gradually becoming a critical aspect of modern age organizations. That is partly because businesses with centralized data, protected information, and client information are targets of cyberattacks.

In most cases, attacks on cyber platforms leave far-reaching implications, including serious data breaches, system failures, loss of brand reputation, and financial losses because of invoice fraud and business email compromise.

There’s no doubt that safeguarding critical infrastructure is a changing priority for organizations. And cybersecurity best practices combined with disaster recovery plans are potential solutions. The vulnerability of interconnected systems and the severity of cyberattacks are some reasons organizations are considering a disaster recovery plan in case of an attack.

Here’s why your company needs a disaster recovery plan:

1. Cost efficiency

Essentially, disaster recovery plans contain many elements. These include:

• Preventative measures that inhibit man-made risks or accidents from happening
• Corrective measures that seek to restore critical infrastructure: data, devices, networks
• Detective measures are aimed at identifying unwanted risks and threats

To accomplish this, organizations are required to do three things:

• First, they’re required to run an analysis of potential problems and threats
• Secondly, they’re responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure
• Actively innovations that target business continuity and focus on cybersecurity

Opting for more advanced software and hardware solutions can save organizations money. In addition, on-time updates and system upgrades are critical in ensuring business continuity. Indeed, businesses are adopting innovative cloud-based data management solutions as opposed to local storage – a move intended to strengthen their cyber preparedness.

The shift from local storage to remote, cloud-based solutions has reduced archive maintenance costs and enhanced disaster recovery planning. This transition has also led to the development of robust data back-ups for enterprises relying exclusively on data.

2. Employee productivity

A disaster recovery plan needs expert design and intelligent execution: it might be designed by experts and deployed by the relevant people. There’s no doubt that effectiveness is likely to be achieved when roles are clearly defined and correctly assigned. Indeed, in some instances, disaster recovery planning is feasible when one high-risk task can be assigned to two discrete people who can perform similar functions. When two or more employees can handle similar problems, redundancies can be reduced even when one of them is absent.

Organizations can enjoy peace of mind when multiple employees handle the same tasks. In addition, when someone is on vacation or on sick leave, the other can still attend to the problem. Disaster recovery ensures the same cross-training principle remains when some personnel leave the company. When skilled personnel leave, the organization doesn’t have to train new hires to handle the tasks left behind. These are some but a few components of a disaster recovery plan.

3. Reduction of restore times

Thanks to disaster recovery planning, businesses can restore their data and operations at the click of a finger. With disaster recovery planning, organizations have the warranty to restore applications, systems, and services in short times and with significantly lower RPO and RTO. Based on the parameters set in the disaster recovery plan, you could significantly reduce restore times based on your needs and achieve timely restorations.

4. Minimizing disruptions and safeguarding critical systems

Each company has critical systems that must always be active and protected. A disaster recovery plan minimizes disruptions and safeguards critical business systems. Business recovery efforts target critical infrastructures vulnerable in case of disasters. In addition, disaster recovery seeks to safeguard data centers, protected information, and third parties from unauthorized access or attacks. This means that suppliers, clients, and stakeholder groups cannot be affected when there’s a clearly defined disaster recovery strategy in place.

5. Business reputation

It takes years to build a reputation but seconds to destroy it. In business, brand reputation is the cornerstone of customer loyalty and customer retention. Unfortunately, a single attack can affect a large surface of products and customers, leading to a loss of brand reputation. For instance, the TalkTalk data breach saw the company taking negative press. The TalkTalk share price plummeted more than 20% following the breach. The attack cost TalkTalk more than £77 million in losses, including a £44,000 fine from the Information Communication Office.

6. Enhanced security

There’s no doubt that the goal of a disaster recovery plan is not only to restore critical infrastructure but to enhance the protection of cyber systems. A disaster recovery plan detects failures, instills corrective measures, and deploys preventative measures to prevent man-made risks.

Ransomware attacks are on the rise. Businesses that are ill-prepared are often forced to pay millions to regain possession of their information. Incorporating restore policies and data back-ups in your DRP ensures that even if your organization does fall victim to malware attacks, the impact isn’t that severe.

Don’t let your data fall into the hands of criminals. You can restore your data and make any cybercrime efforts moot with a disaster recovery plan. In addition, cloud backup services come with additional security features. Advanced cloud features not only detect security breaches but stop suspicious activity before it amplifies its effects.

Contact Bastionpoint for cybersecurity, cloud, and business continuity solutions.