The top 5 causes of IT disaster – is your business prepared?
For most, the word disaster recovery conjures up images of environmental catastrophes such as earthquakes or flood, however for those businesses that have experienced an IT disaster, the reality is often far more mundane but as easily catastrophic in nature.
If you’re thinking – I don’t need to plan for disaster because I don’t operate my business in a flood area, have fire prevention measures in place, and being in the UK I’m low risk for other natural disasters, think again.
You’re only ever one step from disaster, and should the worst happen you need a backup and recovery plan in place to protect your business from loss, BOTH data and financial.
What IT disasters should you be preparing for?
You’ve ruled out an imminent earthquake and your business is fortunately located 1000s of miles from Tornado Alley, so what are the more likely disasters you will face?
Computer virus
Today viruses are a common occurrence that can infect or delete mission critical data, the worst of which is Ransomware. An infected machine that remains connected to your network will systematically encrypt all of the network files it has access to, making them useless.
Hardware/equipment failure
The most common example is the failure of a hard drive in a server.
Malicious intent
The most obvious perpetrator is a hacker trying to gain access and cause damage. However, not all malicious intent is from the outside, sometimes the damage can come from within. A disgruntled employee can easily delete/corrupt data to cause an IT disaster.
Environmental catastrophe
IT disasters can be caused by natural events such as flood; however, they can easily be caused by structural failures within the office environment. For example, a water leak from pipes above or next to where your servers are located, can easily lead to disaster.
Human error
Humans make mistakes, from overwriting critical files to deleting sensitive data. By regularly backing up your data and having a recovery plan in place, you can protect yourself from disaster.
Can you afford downtime and financial loss? NO? Contact us at ASL for no-obligation backup and disaster recovery advice 0345 862 0350
How can you prevent permanent critical data loss?
Most businesses are at risk of experiencing some form of IT disaster. The obvious thing therefore is to take the threat seriously, and plan what to do when it happens. By assessing likely risks and considering every eventuality, you can take control.
Knowing what might happen can help you to plan how best to restore your critical data and services, to keep your business up and running. For advice on disaster recovery contact us at ASL.
Can you afford not to have a backup and recovery plan?
Any business that has experienced a disaster, will tell you that the cost and losses incurred by not having a plan in place, were far more than the cost of developing and implementing one. Downtime equals losing time, money AND customers, and this is something that no business can afford.
The simple fact is customers are fickle and vote with their feet, and most businesses that experience extended outages and downtime lose custom. After all, why deal with a business that has production issues or can’t access your data, when you can go elsewhere?
If disaster has already struck and you need to prevent it ever happening again, or you’re concerned about what could happen if you lost critical data, then contact us at ASL on 0345 862 0350.
About ASL Disaster Recovery Services.
For over 20 years we have been a specialist disaster recovery provider for SMEs across the UK. We have the expertise you need to implement a disaster and recovery solution that minimises business disruption and financial loss through downtime.
ASL keeps UK businesses up and running 24/7/365. Find out more about our disaster recovery service by calling 0345 862 0350.
