15 Keys to an Effective IT Disaster Recovery Plan

12% of US small businesses are affected by natural disasters each year and 82% of ransomware attacks target small businesses. Can you check all the boxes to an effective IT disaster recovery plan?

1. Disaster Recovery Plan. Do you have a disaster recovery plan? An effective disaster recovery plan dramatically minimizes your business risk in the event of unplanned downtime.
2. Business Functions & Processes. One critical step in drafting your disaster recovery plan includes identifying mission-critical business processes, applications and documents. Have you completed this important step?
3. Required IT Infrastructure. It’s imperative to evaluate and prioritize your IT infrastructure so you can document all of your short-term critical applications, systems and networks. Have you completed this task?
4. Supply Chain. Getting business done today often depends on third-party vendors. Have you made a list of suppliers and vendors essential to your day-to-day business operations?
5. Risk Assessment. Building an effective recovery strategy demands understanding your unique risks. Have you identified potential natural disasters and technology-related incidents?
6. Business Impact Assessment. Have you thought about the potential repercussions of a business disruption? Understanding probable impacts is key to developing a successful disaster recovery strategy.
7. Financial Assessment. Determining the full financial impact of downtime for your business is instrumental in evaluating your disaster recovery plan expenses. Do you know what downtime could cost your business?
8. Backup Strategy. Backup strategies vary, and options include on-premises, direct-to-cloud and cloud-to-cloud. Some organizations choose backup only, and others subscribe to disaster recovery as a service. Do you know which approach best suits your business?
9. Recovery Point Objective (RPO). This is the maximum amount of data you can afford to lose before causing your business serious harm. This number is essential as it dictates how often you need to back up. Do you know your RPO?
10. Recovery Time Objective (RTO). This is the maximum amount of downtime your business can afford. Your RTO takes into account how much time you can lose and the potential impact on your bottom line. Do you know your RTO?
11. Insurance. With more frequent ransomware attacks and their costly payouts, many companies are turning to cybersecurity insurance. Do you have coverage? Does your insurer offer premium discounts for disaster recovery planning?
12. Emergency Response Team (ERT). An ERT plans for and responds to business disruptions like natural disasters and security threats. Do you have a team ready to handle worst-case scenarios like these?
13. Disaster Recovery Team (DRT). Your DRT is responsible for coordinating and implementing your disaster recovery plan in the event of a crisis. Do you have a DRT?
14. Communication & Roles. Is every member of your staff informed on your disaster recovery plan and their individual role? Does your plan include notification alerts to your emergency response team (ERT) and disaster recovery team (DRT)?
15. Testing. Regular testing can uncover hidden gaps and keep your disaster recovery plan up to date. Do you know how often your plan is tested? Do you know how often your backups are verified?

As a Holland, Michigan Managed Service Provider (MSP), we offer more than just server disaster recovery and break-fix IT support. We evaluate and organize your network, keeping your data backed up and secure—at all times. Don’t wait for server disaster to find a qualified Managed Services Provider. Reach out to Shoreline Technology Solutions today. Our information technology company will evaluate your network free-of-charge and provide you with best-in-class hardware and cloud-based solutions.

Mark Kolean

President / Network Architect

Mark Kolean always had a fascination with technology from the time he was 3 and his gift of the Atari 2600 to current. In 1990 at the age of 14 Mark got his first job in customer support for a mail order business supporting Tandy TSR-80 computer software shipped on cassette tape. A few years later Mark was building hundreds of 286, 386, and 486 computers for the new emerging DOS & Windows 3.1 computers that had exploded on the market.

After a college career studying business and technology Mark Started Shoreline Computer Systems in 1999 at the height of the dot.com boom with the looming crisis of the year2k bug just around the corner. In the early 2000’s a lot of work was done with early network systems including Lantastic, Novell, and Windows NT Server. Mark became a community contributor to the Small Business Specialist community that revolved around Small Business Server 2000-2011 which focused on single or dual server environments for businesses up to 50 in size. Networks during this time frame mostly had a break fix relationship in which work was billed only when a problem occurred.

In the 2010’s Microsoft released their first cloud based software called Microsoft BPOS which would in later become known as Microsoft Office 365. This introduced a new model in technology with pay as you go subscription services. Starting in 2013 Mark’s team at Shoreline Computer System rebranded as Shoreline Technology Solutions to focus on the transition to become proactive and less reactive to data backup and security needs. Starting in 2018 all customers are required to have a backup management plan in place as a center point with the full understanding that if STS isn’t watching the customer’s data, then no one is.

Now in Mark’s 22 years of business he is building a company emphasis of how to help customers retire servers and build networks completely in the cloud.