The risk analysis and business impact analysis have identified risks to key business functions. Also, the potential impacts and probabilities of these risks as well as the costs to prevent or mitigate damages and the time to recover will have been established. Evaluating and selecting strategies is based on using this knowledge. Strategy selection involves focusing on key risk areas and selecting a strategy for each one. The primary goals are to maintain business continuity in the face of a disruption or disaster, to recover key business functions quickly and to mitigate damages.
Many companies associate disaster recovery and business continuity only with IT and communications functions and miss other critical areas that can seriously impact their business. Other common areas for strategy development and selection are employees, facilities, power, customer service, billing, and customer and public relations. All areas require a clear well thought out strategy based on recovery time objectives, cost and profitability impact.
Recovery related to employees is the most overlooked part of strategy selection. Simple steps like the ability to contact employees at home or on their personal cell phone and to ensure all are accounted for at each facility are often overlooked. Communications is critical to keep employees informed and engaged. The most powerful tools for continuity and recovery are the knowledge, capabilities and motivation of employees.
Developing strategies with implementation steps means no time is wasted in a recovery scenario. The focus is to implement the plan quickly and successfully. The right strategies implemented effectively minimize the disruption and mitigate damages.
In some cases, a strategy decision may be no strategy at all. In this scenario and others where there is significant risk to the financial viability of the organization, business interruption or business income insurance may be a viable strategy. Generally, this provides the company with the income it is losing due to damage to its property. It therefore increases the company's chances of survival and the ability to keep its customers and recover.
About The Author
Robert Mahood has significant technology and management experience in data communications, internet, storage, disaster recovery and data recovery. He is currently the president of Midwest Data Recovery. www.midwestdatarecovery.com
bmahood@midwestdatarecovery.com, 866 786 2595, 312 907 2100
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - The Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan
Essentially, the plan addresses the who, what, where, why and when of recovery. Goal number one is to reduce the risk profile of the business. Goal two is to be well prepared so the impact of any disruption is minimized. Overall, the objective of the plan is to effectively minimize the chances of disruption and, if there is a disruption, to quickly implement the recovery and get the business or organization working again. The "why" is to maximize business continuity and minimize damages to company assets. Ultimately, the goal is to protect the organization from the key risks identified and to effectively implement the recovery strategies.
The "what" is a clear, detailed, but focused business continuity and disaster recovery plan, a plan that provides a successful road map to minimize business interruption and maximize business continuity.
The "who" refers to the teams. The recovery effort is focused through teams. While the Emergency Management Team is the leader of the recovery efforts, other teams could include: IT, telecommunications, facilities and power, customer relations, public relations, billing, customer service, and human resources.
The "where" is, of course, company facilities, but it's also other alternate sites, location of all employees and the ability to find and communicate with employees. Effectively organizing and deploying employees is the most fundamental requirement for successful recovery.
And finally, there is the question of "when." Unfortunately, hackers, hurricanes, fires and other risks seldom follow our agenda. The "when" we can control is the "when" of lowering the company's risk profile by implementing solutions before the problem develops. "When", of course, also has to do with the priorities of the recovery. These hopefully would be in place as a result of selecting effective strategies.
If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. The business continuity and disaster recovery plan is the road map to get you to your destination of minimizing risks, mitigating damages and reducing your risk profile.
About The Author
Robert Mahood has significant technology and management experience in data communications, internet, storage, disaster recovery and data recovery. He is currently the president of Midwest Data Recovery. www.midwestdatarecovery.com
bmahood@midwestdatarecovery.com, 866 786 2595, 312 907 2100
The "what" is a clear, detailed, but focused business continuity and disaster recovery plan, a plan that provides a successful road map to minimize business interruption and maximize business continuity.
The "who" refers to the teams. The recovery effort is focused through teams. While the Emergency Management Team is the leader of the recovery efforts, other teams could include: IT, telecommunications, facilities and power, customer relations, public relations, billing, customer service, and human resources.
The "where" is, of course, company facilities, but it's also other alternate sites, location of all employees and the ability to find and communicate with employees. Effectively organizing and deploying employees is the most fundamental requirement for successful recovery.
And finally, there is the question of "when." Unfortunately, hackers, hurricanes, fires and other risks seldom follow our agenda. The "when" we can control is the "when" of lowering the company's risk profile by implementing solutions before the problem develops. "When", of course, also has to do with the priorities of the recovery. These hopefully would be in place as a result of selecting effective strategies.
If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there. The business continuity and disaster recovery plan is the road map to get you to your destination of minimizing risks, mitigating damages and reducing your risk profile.
About The Author
Robert Mahood has significant technology and management experience in data communications, internet, storage, disaster recovery and data recovery. He is currently the president of Midwest Data Recovery. www.midwestdatarecovery.com
bmahood@midwestdatarecovery.com, 866 786 2595, 312 907 2100
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - Reducing Your Risk Profile
Like all plans, there is an ultimate goal to achieve. The goal in a business continuity plan is simply that: to continue your business in the face of a disaster or a disruption. A business continuity plan is not just for a disaster. It's also for the smaller things in life, like your friendly neighborhood burglar who decides to borrow all of your computers or the small power interruption, which causes loss of data and downtime or the fire five floors below you, which causes a 5 hour building shutdown. These are a few of the many things, which do occur every day and do happen to companies like yours.
Disaster recovery has traditionally been associated with computing systems and data storage and recovery of data. Different than business continuity, disaster recovery is focused more on after the fact, quickly and effectively recovering from a disaster or disruption.
There are many good sources of information on both business continuity and disaster recovery. Some of the more authoritative sources are: Disaster Recovery International (www.drii.org), Disaster Recovery Journal (www.drj.com), and Global Continuity (www.globalcontinuity.com).
It's, of course, not realistic to think that you can guard against every risk. However, through risk analysis, business impact analysis, selecting effective strategies, documenting detailed recovery plans and testing your plans, you can significantly reduce many of your risks, often in a very cost effective way. You have an important management responsibility to safeguard company assets. Reducing your risk profile through a well thought out business continuity and disaster recovery plan is an effective way to do so.
About The Author
Robert Mahood has significant technology and management experience in data communications, internet, storage, disaster recovery and data recovery. He is currently the president of Midwest Data Recovery. www.midwestdatarecovery.com
bmahood@midwestdatarecovery.com, 866 786 2595, 312 907 2100
Disaster recovery has traditionally been associated with computing systems and data storage and recovery of data. Different than business continuity, disaster recovery is focused more on after the fact, quickly and effectively recovering from a disaster or disruption.
There are many good sources of information on both business continuity and disaster recovery. Some of the more authoritative sources are: Disaster Recovery International (www.drii.org), Disaster Recovery Journal (www.drj.com), and Global Continuity (www.globalcontinuity.com).
It's, of course, not realistic to think that you can guard against every risk. However, through risk analysis, business impact analysis, selecting effective strategies, documenting detailed recovery plans and testing your plans, you can significantly reduce many of your risks, often in a very cost effective way. You have an important management responsibility to safeguard company assets. Reducing your risk profile through a well thought out business continuity and disaster recovery plan is an effective way to do so.
About The Author
Robert Mahood has significant technology and management experience in data communications, internet, storage, disaster recovery and data recovery. He is currently the president of Midwest Data Recovery. www.midwestdatarecovery.com
bmahood@midwestdatarecovery.com, 866 786 2595, 312 907 2100
Data Recovery
Every person who uses a personal computer will eventually face the challenge of data recovery. Computer hardware and software can be temperamental from time to time. Hard drives and other mechanical components of personal computers and servers do not last forever, and when they fail recovering your data can be difficult, time consuming and costly.
If you are working diligently away on a document or spreadsheet in Microsoft Office and the power goes out, you may still be able to recover the documents you were working on when the lights come back on. This type of data recovery is relatively easy and straightforward. Software manufacturers recognize that power outages are inevitable and unpredictable and most office applications incorporate what is known as autosave features. At set intervals, the documents you have open are saved to a cached file. They remain in that cached state and should be accessible once your power is restored. Simply opening Microsoft Word or Excel will usually bring these documents back.
For instance, when you open Word after a power failure or a software error, you will be presented with a document followed by the word recovered in parentheses. This is the document you were working on at the most recent autosave point. You may still lose a couple minutes worth of work this way, but it sure beats having to go back and retype the entire document.
If the recovered document does not appear automatically, search your hard drive for files ending with tmp. Look for one created close to the time of the power failure or software error and open it. This is most likely the document you had open at the time. If this method of data recovery does not work, you may need to follow the steps listed below.
Of course not all data recovery is so easy and so straightforward. If you delete a file accidentally, it is a simple matter to recover it from the recycle bin. Once you empty the recycle bin, however, things become more difficult. The deleted file still resides on your computer somewhere, but the pointer that tells the program where to find the file is now gone. There are various software tools available that promise to help recover deleted files, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Some of the major players are Norton, McAfee and Computer Associates. There are a great many smaller vendors as well.
Even if all these products fail to recover your data, you may not be completely out of luck. Data recovery services specialize in recovering data from failed and corrupt hard drives. These data recovery services have tools and equipment not available to the general public.
Government and law enforcement forensic teams will often make use of these advanced data recovery techniques to investigate cases of computer crime. Businesses also will turn to a professional data recovery service to recover mission critical data from damaged hard drives.
It is important to choose a reputable firm any time you need to have data recovery services performed. The firm you choose should be able to provide references from previous clients. You should make sure to follow up with the references they provide.
The cost for the data recovery service will vary according to the type of equipment and the difficulty of the job. You should get several estimates to make sure you are paying a fair price for the service you receive.
Barry Stein is the owner of aWebBiz.com where he offers cutting-edge tips on all aspects of business. To find more advice, tools and resources to help you succeed in your business, visit: http://www.aWebBiz.com
Barry's Internet Marketing Blog: http://awebbiz.com/blog
--------------------------------------------------------------
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your e-book or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included with an active hyperlink to the aWebBiz.com website.
If you are working diligently away on a document or spreadsheet in Microsoft Office and the power goes out, you may still be able to recover the documents you were working on when the lights come back on. This type of data recovery is relatively easy and straightforward. Software manufacturers recognize that power outages are inevitable and unpredictable and most office applications incorporate what is known as autosave features. At set intervals, the documents you have open are saved to a cached file. They remain in that cached state and should be accessible once your power is restored. Simply opening Microsoft Word or Excel will usually bring these documents back.
For instance, when you open Word after a power failure or a software error, you will be presented with a document followed by the word recovered in parentheses. This is the document you were working on at the most recent autosave point. You may still lose a couple minutes worth of work this way, but it sure beats having to go back and retype the entire document.
If the recovered document does not appear automatically, search your hard drive for files ending with tmp. Look for one created close to the time of the power failure or software error and open it. This is most likely the document you had open at the time. If this method of data recovery does not work, you may need to follow the steps listed below.
Of course not all data recovery is so easy and so straightforward. If you delete a file accidentally, it is a simple matter to recover it from the recycle bin. Once you empty the recycle bin, however, things become more difficult. The deleted file still resides on your computer somewhere, but the pointer that tells the program where to find the file is now gone. There are various software tools available that promise to help recover deleted files, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Some of the major players are Norton, McAfee and Computer Associates. There are a great many smaller vendors as well.
Even if all these products fail to recover your data, you may not be completely out of luck. Data recovery services specialize in recovering data from failed and corrupt hard drives. These data recovery services have tools and equipment not available to the general public.
Government and law enforcement forensic teams will often make use of these advanced data recovery techniques to investigate cases of computer crime. Businesses also will turn to a professional data recovery service to recover mission critical data from damaged hard drives.
It is important to choose a reputable firm any time you need to have data recovery services performed. The firm you choose should be able to provide references from previous clients. You should make sure to follow up with the references they provide.
The cost for the data recovery service will vary according to the type of equipment and the difficulty of the job. You should get several estimates to make sure you are paying a fair price for the service you receive.
Barry Stein is the owner of aWebBiz.com where he offers cutting-edge tips on all aspects of business. To find more advice, tools and resources to help you succeed in your business, visit: http://www.aWebBiz.com
Barry's Internet Marketing Blog: http://awebbiz.com/blog
--------------------------------------------------------------
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your e-book or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included with an active hyperlink to the aWebBiz.com website.
Learn How To Make Data Backup Over The Internet!
Why should you backup your data on the Internet?
There are several reasons.
* The backup is located at a secure place for away from your computer.
* It's is easy to do.
* Free available disk space on your web site can be used for storage.
* Disk space on remote server can be used for storage.
* It's a practical backup solution for small businesses and home users.
* It's gives extra security for documents and files.
There are basically three different types of data backup you can make!
* Full Backup of the hard disk.
* Full disk image backup for fast recovery.
* Backup of specific files and folders.
Online backup of a complete hard disk is not practical to do. Although, it can be done. The size requirement and the transfer speed over the Internet makes it yet not powerful enough to do. However in the future complete backup of hard disks online will be more common. Backup over the Internet is best suited for storing limited numbers of specific files and folders.
To do this you need an FTP software which makes it possible to move files over the internet. FTP stand for "file transfer protocol" and is the most commonly used method of transferring files between computers over the Internet.
Use FTP transfer and backup to your web site or to a remote server as a safeguard of your vital data files!
Learn how at http://www.data-backup-and-storage.com/ftp-backup.html
Normally you don't need to backup all the content of your hard disk, to recreate your data.
To be able to make a full recovery of your data, make sure that you keep CD's of all your installation programs and operating system in a safe place. In addition, if you have installed software from the Internet you need to keep copies of the installation programs as backup together with the installation codes.
After you have done that, you need to identify the files and folders that are important to backup.
These are the files you use on a daily basis either in private or in your business. If you are using Windows this can be files in My Document folder and/or your Outlook email files.
These are the files you need to backup so that you can recreate your computer back to what it was if you have lost your data.
If you transfer files from your hard disk directly to the remote site you risk exposing your data to hackers. Your data are not secure from outside preying eyes.
To get full protection you should use a backup software to first create a backup file which is stored temporarily on you hard drive. This file is then transferred with an FTP program to the online server.
There are also a number of online backup services you can subscribe to for this purpose. They often use their own transfer protocol.
Online backups should be made at regular intervals. It is also a practical way to make backup if you use a laptop and are on the move, given you have access to an Internet connection, of course.
If you get a hard disk crash or if your computer gets lost, then you need to be able to recover your data back to what it was
The first step you have to take is to install the operation system and the software from the installation CD's which you have stored in a safe place. Next step is to download the backup or backups you are keeping on the Internet.
If you store your backup on a web site or on a server you should make sure that the backup is encrypted so that nobody else is able to read it.
You must keep the server's username and password you are using as well as the password you use for encryption of the backup written down on paper in a safe place so that you can recreate your data.
Full backup can be made using other types of media such as tapes, DVD's, on different disks or on networks.
To do this you need to have access to such devices.
This will cost you money.
The memory requirement for today's computers has increased. The cost of regular backup on tapes or on DVD's is high.
If you are an entrepreneur or a home computer user, this may not be an option available for you.
What happens if your computer gets stolen?
What happen if the building you keep your computer are struck by fire and destroyed?
Laptop and mobile computer are especially prone to theft. Not only because it is easy to carry away, but also because it is easy to get money by selling.
Therefore, you need to make backup of your important data on a location that is different from where you have your computer. Internet backup of data files is an attractive and cheap solution.
Per Strandberg has interest in backup technology and he is running an information site on backup and data security at http://www.data-backup-and-storage.com
Learn how to make secure online data backup using ftp at http://www.data-backup-and-storage.com/ftp-backup.html
There are several reasons.
* The backup is located at a secure place for away from your computer.
* It's is easy to do.
* Free available disk space on your web site can be used for storage.
* Disk space on remote server can be used for storage.
* It's a practical backup solution for small businesses and home users.
* It's gives extra security for documents and files.
There are basically three different types of data backup you can make!
* Full Backup of the hard disk.
* Full disk image backup for fast recovery.
* Backup of specific files and folders.
Online backup of a complete hard disk is not practical to do. Although, it can be done. The size requirement and the transfer speed over the Internet makes it yet not powerful enough to do. However in the future complete backup of hard disks online will be more common. Backup over the Internet is best suited for storing limited numbers of specific files and folders.
To do this you need an FTP software which makes it possible to move files over the internet. FTP stand for "file transfer protocol" and is the most commonly used method of transferring files between computers over the Internet.
Use FTP transfer and backup to your web site or to a remote server as a safeguard of your vital data files!
Learn how at http://www.data-backup-and-storage.com/ftp-backup.html
Normally you don't need to backup all the content of your hard disk, to recreate your data.
To be able to make a full recovery of your data, make sure that you keep CD's of all your installation programs and operating system in a safe place. In addition, if you have installed software from the Internet you need to keep copies of the installation programs as backup together with the installation codes.
After you have done that, you need to identify the files and folders that are important to backup.
These are the files you use on a daily basis either in private or in your business. If you are using Windows this can be files in My Document folder and/or your Outlook email files.
These are the files you need to backup so that you can recreate your computer back to what it was if you have lost your data.
If you transfer files from your hard disk directly to the remote site you risk exposing your data to hackers. Your data are not secure from outside preying eyes.
To get full protection you should use a backup software to first create a backup file which is stored temporarily on you hard drive. This file is then transferred with an FTP program to the online server.
There are also a number of online backup services you can subscribe to for this purpose. They often use their own transfer protocol.
Online backups should be made at regular intervals. It is also a practical way to make backup if you use a laptop and are on the move, given you have access to an Internet connection, of course.
If you get a hard disk crash or if your computer gets lost, then you need to be able to recover your data back to what it was
The first step you have to take is to install the operation system and the software from the installation CD's which you have stored in a safe place. Next step is to download the backup or backups you are keeping on the Internet.
If you store your backup on a web site or on a server you should make sure that the backup is encrypted so that nobody else is able to read it.
You must keep the server's username and password you are using as well as the password you use for encryption of the backup written down on paper in a safe place so that you can recreate your data.
Full backup can be made using other types of media such as tapes, DVD's, on different disks or on networks.
To do this you need to have access to such devices.
This will cost you money.
The memory requirement for today's computers has increased. The cost of regular backup on tapes or on DVD's is high.
If you are an entrepreneur or a home computer user, this may not be an option available for you.
What happens if your computer gets stolen?
What happen if the building you keep your computer are struck by fire and destroyed?
Laptop and mobile computer are especially prone to theft. Not only because it is easy to carry away, but also because it is easy to get money by selling.
Therefore, you need to make backup of your important data on a location that is different from where you have your computer. Internet backup of data files is an attractive and cheap solution.
Per Strandberg has interest in backup technology and he is running an information site on backup and data security at http://www.data-backup-and-storage.com
Learn how to make secure online data backup using ftp at http://www.data-backup-and-storage.com/ftp-backup.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
