The Role of Managed IT in Business Continuity Planning
The sustainability of an enterprise’s data resources has reached a level of importance that cannot be ignored. Business continuity and disaster recovery solutions are an integral consideration for modern-day businesses across the world, and with good reason. Organizational leaders that fail to implement a business continuity strategy are risking the health of their entire business, costing them customers, sales, and even their reputation. Many business owners find themselves drowning in work unrelated to their core offerings already, making it difficult to justify allocating the time and resources required to create an effective data recovery strategy. So, how do you avoid the risk of losing everything in a disaster without sacrificing the time needed to maintain your business’s integrity? The answer is simple: outsource your disaster recovery planning to a managed IT support company. Keep reading as we define business continuity management (BCM), discuss the traditional BCM methods, and how the cloud is transforming data recovery today.
Business Continuity Management Defined
The phrase “business continuity management” describes a framework used to determine how vulnerable a company is to internal and external threats, what would happen if certain disastrous scenarios (such as a flood, cyberattack, etc.) actually materialized, and how a company would respond to each possible scenario. BCM aims to provide organizations with a plan to effectively respond to events that threaten their ability to continue operations as usual. Part of your strategy should include a detailed set of procedures to retrieve the applications and data that would be lost in case a disaster occurs. This is called disaster reovery, and your managed IT support company will be responsible for this portion of the backup plan.
Traditional Data Backup Methods
The traditional method of backing up company data involves storing data in an off-site location with duplicate hardware. While copying data to these secondary data centers or server rooms is effective, it is not exactly easy on budgets, especially those of smaller firms. Building a backup data center takes a lot of resources that small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) simply do not have. Moreover, once the secondary data center is set up, you must also maintain the networks and systems that go with it, which is an intimidating responsibility by itself. Luckily, there is a better, more modern approach to backing up your data that does not require duplicate hardware or a daunting setup process.
Business Continuity in the Cloud
Cloud technology began gaining traction when businesses started to realize its value, as the cloud’s infrastructure is not at all hardware dependent. This technology enables companies to easily back up applications, data, and even entire operating systems to the cloud. Additionally, the cloud is a completely remote storage place, meaning that it can be accessed at any time and anywhere by any authorized users. There is also an extra layer of security when you use the cloud, as it is completely virtual. Data on physical hardware, on the other hand, can become compromised should the hardware break down or go down. The cloud ensures that regardless of what curve balls are thrown your way, you can rely on it to save your important company data.
Leveraging cloud technology for disaster recovery purposes is not just a good idea – it is also a way for smaller businesses to take advantage of more security, scalability, and reliability in terms of data backups and storage. As a seasoned managed IT support company, we work with our clients to find a data recovery solution that works best for your enterprise. Our goal is to give you a viable plan B so that your data is there when you need it most. Contact us today to learn more about Contigo’s best in class customizable backup solutions.