Disaster Prevention
Disaster Prevention - An introduction
Many small and medium-sized businesses rely heavily on their IT networks, but not all take adequate steps to safeguard them. System crashes, data corruption and other problems can have disastrous consequences - and could even cause a business to fail completely. To anticipate problems and minimise any damage caused you will need to set up and implement an effective disaster prevention strategy.
This plan would ascertain what risks your business faces and the likely impact if your systems failed and data was lost. Will your business reputation be damaged, is there a risk of liability and legal action, will you lose productivity? These are all important issues that will need to be addressed.
The disaster prevention strategy would typically cover:-
- Assessing the risks faced by the organisation.
- Pre-empting potential problems.
- Making contingency plan
Assessing the risks of your IT system
The amount of time and money you spend on disaster prevention will depend on what you use your system for, and the specific risks it faces. This would typically involve conducting a systematic risk assessment to work out the most suitable approach.
Possible hazards that might occur to your systems and data will fall broadly in four areas:
- Human error
- Physical accidents
- Malicious damage
- Natural disasters
This plan will also help clarify the importance of your systems in relation to your business processes. Essential Systems 'Mission-critical' systems are vital to businesses. They need to be highly reliable, and repaired quickly if they fail. For example, a database used by customer service to respond to telephone enquiries, or an e-commerce website. Accounting systems can be essential. Problems could lead to errors or delays in payment, and cashflow difficulties. You could also lose key management information. Organisations will need to consider the value of the data they hold. Certain types of data may be particularly valuable. For example:
- Commercially sensitive information (eg your price list or customer details).
- Personal details on employees or other individuals. You have a legal responsibility under the Data Protection Act for how you use and protect this information.
Analyse potential impact of IT problems
Repairing problems can be expensive. Delays and errors caused by IT problems could lose you customers. If customers do not receive their orders on time, they might look for alternative suppliers. Time will be wasted correcting errors and restoring customer goodwill. Employees are likely to be less productive.
Identify specific risks faced by your system
How likely are they to occur? User error and power cuts are the most common problems. Viruses are an increasing threat if you use email and the Internet. Theft, fraud and hacking can be a serious risk, particularly for companies that hold sensitive types of data. For example, if you collect customers' credit card details through your website. IT systems also face physical threats (eg fire and water damage).
Minimise Risks
Organisations can take a number of steps to minimise risks including :-
- Arrange any external support (as provided by MailSure) you may need: for example, insta Physically protect your equipment; use surge protectors or uninterruptible power supplies and ensure that your premises are secure.
- Establish security procedures (eg password control) and use anti-virus software and an Internet firewall.
- Carry out regular routine maintenance: for example, cleaning equipment, running system utilities, archiving old files and testing system performance.
- Establish an effective daily back-up procedure, and store back-ups securely off-site; regularly test to ensure that you can restore data.
MailSure IT Services has been providing and supporting essential business systems for over ten years. Call us today to find out how we can help protect your organisation. It could mean the difference between survival and ceasing business.