Disaster recovery planning is a necessity nowadays, and is widely seen as an effective way of proactively protecting a business’s interests. As the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure.” Business continuity and recovery planning can help you save valuable time and money, which is critical in ensuring survivability.
An integral part of the disaster recovery process is budgeting. Prudent budget planning ensures that the disaster plan covers the company’s essential needs while avoiding being too constrictive.
Here are some important things to consider when devising your disaster recovery budget:
Determine compliance
All businesses are compelled to meet regulations and compliance requirements in some way On top of this, many industries are also tasked to comply with certain backup and disaster recovery rules, such as those levied by the FDIC, SSAE, or HIPAA.
It is smart to consider compliance costs first, because failure to meet these — especially with regards to protecting sensitive data such as personal information — will result in some hefty fines. In the face of a disaster that affects business operations and profitability, these fines could effectively cripple the company beyond recovery.
Establish your downtime costs
Next, determine your downtime costs per hour. This includes revenue and productivity losses. Ask your IT department or IT provider about how many hours of network downtime your business experiences annually, and multiply this by your company’s downtime cost per hour to get your total annual downtime risk. According to widely accepted industry studies, small businesses incur a mean cost of $16,920 per hour of downtime. If your business has a total of two hours of downtime per year, this means your total annual downtime risk is just under $34,000.
This should give you an idea of how much you should expect to set aside if you expect significant downtime. Businesses in states that endure regular weather disasters should expect more downtime than those that have better weather patterns. For reference, Hurricane Rita, which whipped Texas in 2005, was estimated to have brought about almost 400 hours of network downtime.
It also highlights why many small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have chosen to avail of the data services of outsourced infrastructure providers and managed services providers (MSPs). MSPs typically offer service level agreements that cover downtime costs from routine outages and natural disasters.
Lay down emergency finance policies
Disaster situations for businesses typically require emergency action, not just for humanitarian reasons but also from an organization’s procedural standpoint. This means that while certain actions such as evacuation plans, safety procedures, and other employee protection policies are set in motion, the company should also set the ball rolling on actions that aim to protect the business’s operations and assets.
Finance policies such as disbursement controls, emergency spending protocols, and expense triages can help the company minimize or eliminate unnecessary spending while maintaining fiscal accountability and transparency through a tumultuous time.
Disasters are naturally anxiety-inducing, but by taking a proactive approach through planning, training, and practice, you can put yourself in the best position to weather that storm. It would also help greatly if you can take some things off your mind so that you can focus on the best ways you and your employees can run your business.
Leverage available managed services — such as those offered by Arnet Technologies for Ohio businesses — to protect your systems and data. Managed IT can help you protect your valuable business information so you can concentrate on more immediate matters in the event of a disaster, such as employee safety. Arnet’s IT services can also assist you with business continuity so that you can hit the ground running once you begin your re-normalization procedures.
Arnet is Ohio’s IT heavyweight — we provide EasyNET virtual office setups, managed IT services, IT consultations, VMware consultations, Veeam Cloud Connect services, and backup and disaster recovery planning for businesses of all sizes. Call today to schedule your appointment!
