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Protecting Your Data: Are You Covered?

by | Feb 15, 2013 | General Technology, Practice Management

Tech professionals, consultants, back office personnel and most other computer users all acknowledge that backups of valuable data, computer files, and other critical electronic information is a key task in a firm’s core business processes. In my experience, however, most users pay lip service to this task, rather than taking action, when it comes to a solid backup and disaster recovery (DR) plan.

When I visit a client, I always make it a point to talk about their backups. I usually get varying responses, from “I have no idea if we take backups” to “Yes, we backup every day”. While most of my clients have an automated scheduled backup system for their database and files nightly, most do not have this strategy documented anywhere, nor do they have a DR plan.

If your server went down, would you know what to do?

If you do not have a backup and disaster recovery plan for your firm, you could be playing Russian Roulette with your practice and your irreplaceable data. Flood, tornado, earthquake, broken pipe over the server room, or disgruntled employee with an axe, any of these scenarios can cause your practice to morph from happy-go-lucky to disaster/panic mode. To be sure that you are adequately protected if such a disaster occurred to you, many questions need to be answered. I will go over a few of those later in this post.

There are different types of disasters that can afflict your electronic information; questions should be asked for each type. For example, the amount of data you can afford to lose after an OS failure may differ from the amount you are willing to lose if your entire building was wiped out. I would imagine most reading this blog post would be “up the creek without a paddle” if they lost their entire building.

First, let’s list some of the disaster scenarios that a business might face:

  • Facility Destruction
  • Server Room Destruction
  • Equipment Destruction
  • OS Failure
  • Drive Failure
  • Data Corruption

This list could go on and on. We can never be prepared for every scenario that might possibly rear its ugly head. But the smart business prepares for those disasters that others have experienced, and learns from them.

To build a legitimate backup plan one must first ask the right questions regarding disaster scenarios. How can one know the backup schedule needed if one doesn’t know the data loss budget? These are the questions that I ask for each scenario:

  • How much data can you afford to lose in scenario1/scenario2/scenario3, etc.?
  • How much down time can you afford in scenario1/scenario2/scenario3, etc.?
  • List the roles of all personnel, in order, who will need access to information first in scenario1/scenario2/scenario3, etc.
  • Are there any limitations (legal or otherwise) on how the information can be accessed in scenario1/scenario2/scenario3, etc.?

These are the basic questions that need to be asked when preparing to formulate a good backup and DR plan. Of course there are many more questions to review and answer, depending on the individual practice and needs.

How a plan is put together depends on how the stakeholders of a business answer these questions, and it can vary to the nth degree. The scope of building the plan goes well beyond a blog post. But asking the right questions is always a good start.

Have some questions about the adequacy of your firm’s backup and disaster recovery plan? Yeah, we can help with that, too……. Reach out to us at 877-357-0555, or email us at [email protected] to discuss your disaster recovery questions – before that disaster strikes.