Many small businesses don’t have adequate disaster recovery plans. A common reason is that disaster recovery plan process is a low priority item for them. They see it as an expense for a hypothetical event that may never happen.
Because of this, day-to-day operations continually displace putting together and implementing a solution. It doesn’t help that a complete and robust plan involving redundant systems can be complex and costly. However, should disaster ever strike, it will be too late. Unfortunately, inadequate disaster recovery planning has forced many companies out of business.
There are many ways that disaster can strike, and businesses can potentially fall victim to any one of the five listed below:
Flooding
Not being next to a river, lake, ocean, or other body of water doesn’t guaranty safety from floods. Heavy rainfall or snow melt from an unusually snowy winter can cause a normally dry creek bed to overflow and flood your building.
Floods often happen independently of weather such as a nearby water main that bursts or even a small fire that triggers your sprinkler system. Water can damage your servers and destroy vital business and customer data.
Hurricanes
You don’t have to live near the Gulf of Mexico to experience hurricanes. All towns and cities along the eastern seaboard are potential sites for hurricane damage. Hurricanes cause flooding, wind damage, and large-scale power loss.
Tornados
These occur throughout the Midwest. However, tornados have struck in areas not commonly associated with them. If your area gets plenty of thunderstorm activity, there’s always a possibility of a severe storm developing into a tornado.
Fires
Out-of-control wildfires during periods of protracted dry weather have surrounded and burned down multiple buildings at a time. However, a fire can occur anywhere at any time. If your building has combustible materials, you’re at risk.
Power Failure
The power grid has many vulnerabilities. Week long power outages have occurred in several areas of the United States because of severe ice storms or unusually early snowfall occurring before trees have shed their leaves. Windstorms can also knock down trees onto power lines. Faulty power infrastructure and generator failures are yet other causes.
It’s not a question of if a disaster will strike but when. Several of the above listed disasters can happen to almost any business. If one should shut your business down for too long or destroy critical data, the losses in revenue, customers, and credibility could be irrecoverable and end your business. Whoa offers a fully managed disaster recovery as a service. To learn more about this or about disaster recovery in general, contact us.