All of us rightly or wrongly consider that once we have a backup for the data on our computers that we are fully covered in the event of a disaster. However, as some of you will have already learned the hard way, that this is rarely the case.   A disaster can be defined as “any event or series of events that prevents your business from accessing the data and systems it needs to operate” and this includes power failures, cyberattacks, employee sabotage and hardware failure.

Every company faces the risk of IT interruptions that can grind business to a halt and if this stoppage is serious enough it can risk bringing the business to a permanent standstill or failure.   

We have listed below ten reason as to why your business should consider investing the time and resources in a business continuity plan, and in a subsequent article we will detail what the contents of a Disaster Recovery Plan should contain;

1. The overall consideration here is that a business can’t afford downtime
2. Customers expect always to be able to access websites, order portals etc. Downtime therefore means loss of business from customers both immediately and in the long term.
3. Downtime can also cause reputational damage as this can be interpreted as shoddy and inadequate systems
4. The weather (Beast from the East) can play havoc with our systems and should be protected.
5. Sometimes hardware just fails, even the best equipment can just die for no apparent reason.
6. If subject to a cyber-attack, it could also impact your client business.
7. In this new GDPR world any data breaches can prove very costly to the business and should be protected to comply with all the relevant legislation.
8. A staggering statistic from the US in relation to SME’s 43% of companies were immediately put out of business by a “major loss” of computer records, and another 51% permanently closed their doors within two years — leaving a mere six percent “survival” rate. 
9. Ultimately it will save you money in the long term, once the initial investment is over it will begin paying dividend for the company.
10. All systems even the most secure, interact with humans, and humans can make mistakes. 

You can see from the above that it is imperative that all businesses invest the necessary resources in a Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery Plan and we shall be looking at what it should contain in future articles.

What Questions Do You Have?

We are happy to help. Please post your comment below or call Des McCann, Partner at Cooney Carey, on 01 677 9000. Alternatively, send him an email: dmccann@cooneycarey.ie

To keep in touch, connect with us on LinkedIn.

If this article helped you, please share it with other businesses.