| Identify your data recovery needs | | | | For most large organisations, to be without a |
| Data Recovery is vital for the survival of your | | | | particular system, such as email for any length of |
| business. Your data defines and separates your | | | | time could result in the loss of business. Should the |
| business from any other in the market. If failure | | | | system running your website fail, and customers |
| should occur at any level of your infrastructure it can | | | | attempt to visit an inactive site, the chances are |
| be felt across the business. You must ask yourself, | | | | they will not return. The longer the site is down, the |
| how would your business survive a disaster? And | | | | more business you could potentially lose. It is vital |
| what provisions do you have in place for your | | | | that you can recover your systems as quickly as |
| business to continue after? | | | | possible, reducing downtime and limiting loss of |
| Understand the risks | | | | business. Essentially, any length of downtime can be |
| Data loss can range from the accidental deletion of | | | | harmful to your business, but extended downtime |
| files; to the failure of your entire site. Without data | | | | could spell out the end. |
| recovery precautions in place you are putting your | | | | Assess what method of system recovery is best |
| organisation at risk. | | | | suited to your critical system |
| IT failure is considered to be the most common | | | | Assessing the critical levels of your specific data and |
| threat to businesses, with electrical, hardware and | | | | systems, allows you to set a data recovery policy |
| software failure also posing considered risks. | | | | that works best for you depending on the Recovery |
| The threat of fire and natural disaster, although | | | | Point Objective (RPI) of your data. |
| considered less likely can have the most devastating | | | | Bare metal recovery essentially backs up the entire |
| consequences. Findings from a CBI study indicate that | | | | system, enabling you to recover the operating |
| a high level of disruptions in 2008 and 2009 were due | | | | system, application software and data in a single |
| to extreme weather incidents such as snow, flood or | | | | pass, reducing your recovery time by hours. This |
| high winds. | | | | solution enables you to recover to either similar or |
| Assess how critical your data is | | | | dissimilar hardware. Online disk backup allows you to |
| The key aspect of data recovery is understanding | | | | increase the frequency of your backup for more |
| just how critical your data is. By compiling an | | | | dynamic and rapidly changing data. This Real-time |
| assessment on the risks to your business you can | | | | protection solution provides this and, with tiered |
| then develop a tiered recovery strategy that will | | | | recovery architecture, you have the flexibility of |
| ensure all levels of your infrastructure can be | | | | backing up more frequently on critical systems and |
| recovered in the event of a disaster. | | | | less frequently on non-critical systems. This saves |
| Assess how easily you can recover a file | | | | you money as it cost-effectively balances your data |
| Data backup is required by all businesses. With legal | | | | protection needs. |
| requirements tightening and data volumes growing | | | | Another method is continuous data protection (CDP), |
| out of control, traditional tape backup is no longer a | | | | which improves your time to recover a complete |
| reliable or cost effective means of meeting | | | | system. With CDP, you backup very rapidly across a |
| compliance levels. Managed Online Data Backup | | | | LAN to your local vault onsite while simultaneously |
| Services enable you to instantly recover files within | | | | backing up over the wire to a vault in offsite, |
| seconds and deduplicate data to make the most of | | | | providing protection from on-site and natural |
| your storage; saving resources and reducing costs. | | | | disasters. |
| Data is encrypted during the backup process to offer | | | | Consider how your network would survive a disaster |
| the highest level of security and is ready for | | | | Putting a resilient data recovery policy in place insures |
| recovery if needed. | | | | your data against failure, but what about your |
| Consider what the impact of a server failure would | | | | network? Your network infrastructure is vital to |
| be | | | | continuous running of your organisation. A disaster on |
| Assessment for data recovery calls for you to | | | | site will take out your network as well as your data. |
| consider the maximum amount of downtime you can | | | | Hosting your network with a service provider offers |
| afford for any system before the impact becomes | | | | you a fully managed solution for network recovery. |
| critical to business operations. You can define your | | | | Your network will be accessible even in site failure, |
| data recovery policy according to how critical that | | | | ensuring that your business continues as normal. |
| system is, the chance of failure and how much you | | | | Consider how your telephony would survive a |
| are willing to spend to minimise recovery time. | | | | disaster |
| Assess how easily you could recover your systems | | | | Managed hosting is the ultimate business continuity |
| The process of re-installing an operating system, its | | | | solution. Not only can you host your data, systems |
| service packs and updates, along with applications | | | | and network safely offsite in the service providers |
| and new device drivers can take hours or even days, | | | | 'cloud'; you can also protect your telephony systems |
| contributing to your overall recovery time. Prior to | | | | in the same way. |
| the lengthy process of application installation and data | | | | Hosting your IT infrastructure in the cloud covers |
| restoration, a compatible system is required, adding | | | | every aspect for business continuity as well as |
| yet more downtime to that ticking clock. The reality | | | | allowing you access to extra computing resources |
| is that system failure could result in over week of | | | | when you need them. For a truly resilient business |
| downtime till your system is back up and running. | | | | continuity solution that is flexible with your business |
| What is the impact of downtime on your company? | | | | needs, managed hosting is the answer. |