Data loss can be detrimental to a business’s well being and productivity. When disaster strikes, the only defense the company has is their level of preparation. In today’s world of increasing hackings, technology glitches, and natural disasters, it is essential to have a plan and be prepared.

Here at River City Data, we can help you prepare for any of these occurrences. Our company has specialized in all things data for the last 40 years.

Each of our Kofax certified experts is vetted and have current background checks. We are also BCA certified and HIPAA certified. You can rest assured that your data security and management needs are our top priority.

Label Your Documents

Before you begin to plan for your disaster data recovery, it is crucial to classify your documents in their order of importance. Start with the documents that are the most critical and end the recovery process with documents that are the least essential to the company’s operations.

Label the documents by these five categories: critical, essential, important, useful, and non-essential.

Critical Documents

Critical documents will be any documentation that your company may need to have to speed along the recovery.

Essential Documents

Essential documents will be documentation needed in the first 72 hours of the disaster that are vital to the company with daily functions.

Important Documents

Important documents are any documentation that is irreplaceable and crucial to your companies functions.

Useful Documents

Useful documents are any documentation that can be replaced in the event of a disaster but comes as an inconvenience to your company.

Non-Essential Documents

Non-essential documents would not hinder your companies function and are replaceable.

Once all of the documents are labeled, it is time to figure out storage for each of the categories of documents. Some options are the use of cloud storage, onsite storage of physical materials, or offsite storage.

Have A Backup Solution

Make sure to have an online cloud storage set in place. The cloud is not only a secure place for data but also convenient because of the ease of data recovery from a cloud.

Having a cloud also creates an easily accessible storage space for relevant documents that may not have any physical copies. In the case of a disaster, the cloud will provide an almost seamless recovery.

Keep physical copies in a safe location onsite. The documents can be kept in a locked storage room with fire and water protected filing cabinets.

Outsource your storage. You can have your data stored at an offsite location. Having the documents stored at an offsite location will help free up room in the office.

Risk Assessments

A crucial factor in document recovery is to assess the risk that each disaster can cause your company. The risk can be anything from technical, logistical, or environmental. It is also important to weigh how each of these disasters can impact your company.

Not every recovery plan is going to be the same for each of the disasters. The risk assessment will aid your company.

Assign a Recovery Team

Your plan is only as effective as the team of employees that you put in charge of it. Assign each person on the team a role and communicate their purpose to them. It is also important to brief each team member on their course of action in the document recovery if a disaster were to strike.

Outline the Plan

Provide written direction for the chain of events that will take place in case of a catastrophe. Provide visuals that will help your team understand the recovery plan.

The outline should include a plan for a variety of disasters. A disaster can range anything from a hacking situation, technical data loss, or a natural disaster. The outline will give concise directions on how to proceed in any of these events.

In a situation where your company’s valuable information is compromised, there needs to be a plan for informing patrons. Going forward extra measures need to be put in place to keep PII (Personal Identifiable Information) safe.

A technical data disaster can be a technical error with technology that can cause a loss of data. Knowing that these occurrences happen and preparing for them is essential to your company’s overall wellbeing. This is where a cloud comes in handy for ensuring that your data is backed up on a drive.

Having an IT company to reach out to (if necessary) can be beneficial for data recovery. They should be able to get your system back up and running or help you recover any lost data.

Data loss through a natural disaster can be extremely frustrating and can set your company back on their work. It is crucial to establish a safe area where copies of hard data are stored. You will want to have document storage that is going to protect against fire and water damage.

Make Updates

Your plan will grow and evolve as your company’s needs and wants may change. Review your data recovery plan and make any updates or changes to it when necessary. You want to ensure that your outline is current and aligns with your business objectives.

Inform your staff about any updates or changes made to the plan. Create any necessary new visuals and reiterate each person’s role.

Methods of Recovery

Knowing how you are going to recover your documents is an essential aspect of the process, whether you re-download documents from a drive or have to restore physical documents from natural disaster damages.

Documents can be restored from water damage by putting them into a vacuum chamber to be freeze-dried to remove any excess water that will turn into ice crystals and vaporize.

Or they can go through a dehumidification process where the water will slowly evaporate out of the materials to dry them out. However, proper storage methods of physical documents can save you from having to outsource to a third party for document restoration.

Here at River City Data, we are here to assist you with finding the best way to keep and store your documents. It is better to expect the unexpected and have a plan in a place in case a disaster strikes your business.

source https://rivercitydata.com/expect-the-unexpected-how-to-preserve-your-data-through-a-disaster/

River City Data

Monday 9 March 2020

Expect the Unexpected: How to Preserve Your Data Through a Disaster