Business continuity planning – 13 Ways to Prepare: Pt. 2

Tuesday you may have read about how to prepare in case disaster strikes. Part 2 of this blog are the rest of the 13 ways to prepare. Please read on Business Continuity Planning - how to prepare in case of emergency or a disaster. 

Here are the remaining steps you can take to prepare or better strengthen your business continuity:

5. Group info into performance classifications: You can’t fix everything at once. Divide your assets into “Must Have/Business Critical” and “Temporary Downtime” buckets to keep procedures organized and aid in determining recovery timelines.

6. Set disaster recovery time limits: Identify disaster types and assign rough response times for each step of the recovery. Creating a general time range helps improve resource and time efficiency.

7. Compile your contacts: Record every vendor you work with currently as well as the customer service information for your network hardware – include contact names, landline and cell phone numbers, email addresses, etc.… Make this list is easily accessible to all IT staff. Keep an additional copy offsite as well.

8. Backup your data: Back up everything. Aim to back up the server and specialist applications (such as Exchange) separately. Refrain from tape backups – utilize cloud-hosted environments. Stored data should not be associated with your physical places of work in case you need that data to create temporary IT networks.

9. Plan for the creation of offsite networks: Should main places of business require restoration prepare to work out of temporary sites. Identify off-site options and have hardware at the ready. Plan for the transportation of hardware and personnel to temporary networks.

10. Redirect your voice: Telecommunications is often most essential during the first hours of a disaster. Have a system in place that diverts calls to a different location with minimal notice.

11. Virtualize your operating system: To add agility and resiliency to your IT environment layer in virtualization. This makes DR easier to implement, cheaper to run and more reliable when needed.

12. Add power management software: Coupling virtualization technologies with power management software (PMS) can help reduce the damages associated with downtime and may even eliminate disaster from happening in the first place. Event-based PMS software orchestrates the move of live workloads to safer locations without interruption to users — be it another rack, room, or facility. A dependable PMS package can trigger a recovery platform to initiate a fully automated relocation of a primary data center to the backup site without the need for user involvement.

13. Utilize a network monitoring tool: Install network interface cards to allow direct connectivity to the network in real time. These systems allow for UPS control across the network via a standard web browser, SNMP-compliant network management system or power management software. Stop a threat in its tracks.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Plan ahead and you will be ready to face any blip that comes your way.

You don’t have to go it alone. To best review your business’s needs, confer with an expert. An agnostic technology agent or consultant can ask the right questions to determine what you need, help you gain a deeper overview of the wide range of solutions available and how each one fits in with what you’re trying to accomplish. In addition to assisting you with procurement, they can also handle ongoing care.

About Simplicity

Simplicity VoIP, based in Richmond, VA, provides hosted PBX, VoIP and business telephone solutions nationally to small, medium, and enterprise-level businesses for a comprehensive unified communications experience. Two distinct Class 5 geo-redundant VoIP platforms are offered in addition to fax-to-email, phones and equipment, and managed services. Named as Richmond’s 11th fastest growing company by Richmond BizSense, Simplicity VoIP’s key to success is its on-site service, installation and training supported 24/7/365 by a world-class client services team.