Act of God or Act of a Mad Man... Be Prepared

- by Carol Conway

So often we get caught up in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of running the business we forget to protect the business. Most of us feel immune from major catastrophes and, as a result, fail to plan for a disaster. All small businesses need to expect the unexpected because Murphy's Law can strike at any time. If something can go wrong, it will. Whether it's a hurricane, lightning strike, fire, flood, human error, or human malice, at some point something is bound to go wrong. Whether or not your business survives tough times depends on how well you prepare. Here are five basic rules to follow when preparing for the inevitable meltdown.

1. Have a written disaster recovery plan. Every mission critical aspect of your business should be analyzed including technical and non-technical functions. It is key to identify what information you will need after a disaster strikes. What data, people and resources are strategic to your products and services? "Hot" backup sites with generators, phone lines and electricity can be life savers. The plan should be well documented and include a detailed description of your technical environment. Having written instructions is invaluable when panic sets in. Such items as a telephone tree (employees relating information to each other) and hot site locations can calm nerves and turn confusion into direction. For more information regarding the development of a disaster recovery plan, refer to the Disaster Recovery Journal at www.drj.com.

2. Back up your data often. Most companies are too casual about backing up data and have an "it's not going to happen to me" attitude. Assign two people to this important task, back up daily and check the tapes or CDs to make sure the back up is good. It's surprising how many people know how to back up but have not learned how to check and restore a back up. Contract clients enjoy the additional comfort of having us check their backups for them daily. It's also a good idea to store your backups off site in a safe and secure location. They do you no good if they burn up in a building fire. This is why CRS Technology offers Continuous Data Protection (CDP) in your real-time environment. We offer services to stricly monitor your backup status on a much needed daily basis and for our contract clients we backup a generous portion of your data remotely. for more information on the data backup services we offer please read more on our Online Backup Services page.

3. Have plenty of emergency power. When the electricity stops or "browns out," uninterrupted power supply (UPS) modules are a must. Have one for the phone system, file server and desktop computers. Ideally, choose a UPS to provide 45-60 minutes of power to a server and 1-2 hours of power to a phone system. Generators can be purchased to provide power indefinitely. However, they are expensive and cumbersome. At the most basic level, put surge protectors on facsimiles, printers, and copiers. Last but not least, make sure you fill out the warranty cards for your power protection products. Most vendors offer exceptional coverage and guarantees for the products and the devices they protect.

4. Have redundant systems. Backing up and UPS modules are forms of redundancy. Another technique is "mirroring" the hard drive in the server. A mirror is a second drive in the server that is an exact digital copy of the primary drive. If the primary drive fails, the mirror is in place and will keep you operational until the primary drive is restored. Another popular option is to save all critical data digitally by installing an imaging system. By converting all of those paper files to a digital format, customer, vendor and personnel files can be condensed to a handful of CD Roms. Document imaging has become very popular recently due to improvements in software and reductions in price. Redundant phone systems may seem like a luxury but could prove to be a necessity. If a lightning strike takes out your telephone system, an older system can be activated until the primary system is repaired or replaced. If your business is email or ecommerce dependent, an alternate source for Internet connectivity should be established.

5. Install Anti-Virus Software and keep Windows updated. Recently businesses have been plagued with quickly replicating, destructive viruses. These viruses can paralyze a system, corrupt data files and destroy hard drives. By installing an anti-virus software program such as Trend Micro Antivirus, or Norton Anti-Virus, and downloading new updates frequently, you will be less vulnerable to attack. No anti-virus software will protect your system from everything, so it is important to use common sense as well. For example, if you receive an email from a suspicious source, it is best not to open it. By checking Internet news daily, late breaking viruses will be brought to your attention early on. Unfortunately, the frequency and destructive nature of viruses will continue to be a part of our electronic culture.

In the best of all possible worlds, we'd never experience problems in our day-to-day activities. But that's a dream. Experience has taught us all too well that an act of God or an act of a madman can quickly bring our work and our lives to a screeching halt. In the name of intelligent managing, we'd all do well to adopt the motto of the U.S. Coast Guard: "Semper Paratus" (Always Ready). It is also inportant to keep Microsoft windows properly updated so any and all potential exploits can be patched before anything malicious can find its way through.

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