Why Your Business Needs a Disaster Recovery Plan (Before It's Too Late)

Why Your Business Needs a Disaster Recovery Plan (Before It's Too Late)

Here's a scenario no business owner wants to think about: You walk into the office Monday morning and your server is dead. All your files, your customer database, your accounting software, your email — gone. What do you do?

If you don't have a clear, tested answer to that question, you need a disaster recovery plan. Here's how to build one.

The Numbers That Should Scare You

• 93% of companies that lose their data center for 10+ days file for bankruptcy within one year
• 40% of small businesses never reopen after a major data disaster
• $8,000 per minute — the average cost of IT downtime for a small business
• 68% of businesses don't have a documented disaster recovery plan

Disasters aren't just hurricanes and fires. The most common causes of data loss are hardware failure, human error, ransomware, and power surges. These happen every day.

What a Disaster Recovery Plan Covers

A DR plan answers three questions:

1. Recovery Time Objective (RTO): How long can your business survive without its systems? If your answer is "not long," your RTO should be hours, not days.
2. Recovery Point Objective (RPO): How much data can you afford to lose? If you back up nightly, your RPO is 24 hours — meaning you could lose an entire day's work.
3. Who does what? When disaster strikes, who calls whom? Who makes decisions? Who communicates with clients? This needs to be written down, not figured out in the moment.

Building Your Plan: Step by Step

Step 1: Inventory Everything

List every system, application, and data source your business depends on. Rank them by criticality. Your EHR or accounting system is probably more critical than your printer software.

Step 2: Implement the 3-2-1 Backup Rule

• 3 copies of all important data
• 2 different types of storage (local + cloud)
• 1 copy offsite (geographically separate from your office)

Step 3: Test Your Restores

Schedule quarterly restore tests. Actually restore files from backup and verify they work. An untested backup is not a backup — it's a hope.

Step 4: Document the Plan

Write it down. Include contact information for your IT provider, key personnel, insurance company, and critical vendors. Store copies both digitally (in the cloud) and physically (printed, in a safe location).

Step 5: Train Your Team

Everyone should know what to do in the first 15 minutes of a disaster. Who to call, what to shut down, what NOT to do (don't turn off the server, don't try to fix it yourself).

Houston-Specific Considerations

We're in hurricane country. Your DR plan should account for:

• Extended power outages — UPS systems for graceful shutdown, cloud-based systems for continued operation
• Physical office inaccessibility — Can your team work remotely if the office is flooded?
• ISP outages — Do you have a cellular failover for your internet connection?

We'll Build Your DR Plan — Free

Disaster recovery planning is included with our managed IT service. But even if you're not a client, we'll assess your current backup and recovery situation in a free 30-minute consultation.

Book your free IT assessment →

Call: (972) 244-3009