Many small-to-medium sized business (SMB) owners genuinely question the need for any kind of disaster recovery plan (DRP), particularly a data disaster recovery plan. ‘I’m just a small business. How much can I really lose?’
Statistics from the National Archives & Records Administration in Washington are reported in the following table.
| After the disaster, Companies that lost their data… | Statistic |
|---|---|
| that never reopen. | 25% |
| that close within 6 months. | 60% |
| for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year. | 93% |
| for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy immediately. | 50% |
In addition, 31 % of PC users have lost all their files because of events beyond their control.
Recognizing the difference between a minor data disaster and a major business disaster is important. A minor data disaster refers to the loss of data due to a server crash, or hard drive crash, or some other small accident that deprives a business of data without affecting other assets. Developing a recovery plan for the loss of data is relatively easy.
However, what happens when a major disaster strikes? What happens to your customer’s business when they lose all their assets, or there is no place to work? Being able to restore data is certainly part of a major disaster recovery plan, but not all the data in the world can help a business that has no place for employees to work, or tools, or systems to work with.
As an MSP, you can add value to your service by convincing your customers to develop comprehensive disaster recovery plans. Helping your customers develop plans that define where employees work, what they work with, and how they work following a major disaster establishes trustworthy relationships.
You do not have to provide all the answers. You only need to ask the right questions so your customers can develop the answers on their own. While you may not be able to offer more than support in recovering data or providing IT infrastructure after a disaster, convincing a customer to develop a comprehensive disaster recovery plan is the best thing you could ever do for them.
The good news is that disaster recovery planning does not require a lot of time or money. DRP requires the will and commitment to get the plan done. The effort put into the DRP is time and money well spent. The following suggestions are provided to help you and your customers get started.
- Establish a planning group.
- Perform a risk assessment.
- Realistically, what disasters could occur?
- Fire
- Flood
- Storms
- Unique equipment failures
- Total systems failures
- Others
- How would each one affect the business?
- Realistically, what disasters could occur?
- Establish priorities by identifying systems/assets that are mission critical.
- Develop recovery strategies.
- Where shall employees work?
- What equipment/tools shall they need?
- Where shall you get the equipment/tools?
- What data is essential for the business to operate?
- Document the plan (include an inventory of all systems and safeguards).
- Important: Test the plan by conducting a disaster drill on those elements that are practical to test, like data recovery.
- Implement safeguards to reduce risk.
- Conduct an annual review and drill of the plan to ensure the plan works.
The following links provide more information.
https://barracudamsp.com/msp-resources/disaster-recovery-plan/
https://barracudamsp.com/resources/pdf/how-to-guide/Recipe-BDR-Final-for-web.pdf