Backup, Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity
I always say BDR/BCP is a little bit like Ambien. It helps you sleep better at night!
There are three key pieces to a proper BDR/BCP (Backup Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity Planning). Most companies have the first piece of the puzzle while missing out on the two most critical aspects of BDR/BCP. Your Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning.
Server backups work well when they actually work. We monitor server backups on a daily basis and know that if you're not checking your backups daily eventually there will be a problem with your backup application and or backup media that needs attention. If this goes unchecked you potentially stand to lose a lot of information if your server crashes and the server has not been properly backing up. This would be a NIGHTMARE for all of the companies we work for. Again that is the reason that we're diligent to monitor and review these backups every day.
OK so you've got a solid backup solution...
But what happens if you have a fire or theft in your office? Do you off-site your data for disaster recovery purposes? Statistics show that 95% of all small businesses that have a disaster never really recover and end up closing the doors within a few years due to having poor disaster recovery solutions in place.
The last piece of the puzzle is what we call Business Continuity. If your server crashed tomorrow at 11:00am how long would it take your IT company to get your server back on-line and you operational? In most instances it would take 1-2 days to recover a crashed server. Using a hypothetical on-prem physical server. The usual routine is similar to this. Server crashes, IT needs to work with server vendor to replaced failed hardware (hopefully you have a valid warranty on the server), hardware vendor will be on-site with 6 hours to replaced failed hardware, after hardware has been replaced we can now work on reconstructing and restoring your server from the previous nights backup.
Can you afford the downtime?
Most business owners understand the importance of their business data. Information Technology is the Life Blood of any organization. If I could see a show of hands how many businesses would find it difficult to operate if I came in your office this evening and removed your servers? Depending on what those servers housed some users might be without email, faxes, documents, line of business applications, accounting programs, video surveillance, and much more.
This is where a proper BDR/BCP solution comes in handy.
As a business owner myself I know the value of a properly configured BDR/BCP solution. Unique Solutions partners with one of the worlds leaders in BDR/BCP solutions.
We install a small device on your network and every 60 minutes your servers replicate themselves to this device. They also then cloud replicate these server images to bi-coastal data centers for geographical redundancy.
If you have a server crash in your office we can you have your entire office backup and working within 1 hour. All while your server is still down.
If your server room went up in flames or your server was stolen we could also get your server backup and running within an hour in one of the data centers!
After we've got your office backup and working we then start the process of repairing and restoring your server all the while you continue to work off the BDR/BCP appliance in your office or in the cloud.
I don't know about you but if my email server or the server I use to run my day to day operations went down there is no way I could go 1-2 days to wait to get things back operational. I'd most likely end up losing clients as I wouldn't have the required tools available to provide the support that we do.
If you're not feeling to warm and cozy after reading this and possibly doubting your existing backup / recovery solution feel free to contact me. I'd love to talk with you about an amazing solution that helps all business owners sleep better at night!