Businesses never want the worst to happen, but the worst often becomes a reality when you least expect it. Compounding a Worst-Case Scenario is the lack of a cohesive recovery plan, including the steps a business takes to get back on track as quickly as possible following a disaster or security breach. Vision Net leverages technology solutions like cloud services and our Network Operations Center to proactively monitor threats. Following these 5 steps to create a backup and disaster recovery plan will help your business be prepared for Worst Case Scenarios.
1. Be Proactive with Disaster Recovery Planning | Disaster planning is tricky because a business must consider a spectrum of contingencies and account for unforeseen circumstances, including Cyberattacks, power outages, and local disasters. A good business disaster recovery plan focuses on forming a planning and recovery team to create a focused, oriented task force that can methodically move through the stages of drafting procedures for each contingency. Vision Net’s security team can develop a proactive plan that considers likely and unlikely scenarios and remember; the best and most effective business disaster recovery plans are those that allow flexibility and anticipate a wide range of possibilities.
2. Identify your Business’ critical functions and infrastructure | A business impact analysis predicts possible causes and outcomes of disruptions in business processes and establishes critical functions your business would cease to run without. Critical functions take many forms according to the nature of the business. For example, an online retail business might require the ability of users to complete purchases on the website to function whereas a critical function for a financial institution might involve transmitting electronic transaction data securely. Vision Net works with businesses to develops security plans unique to each business’ needs.
3. Create Emergency Response Policies and Procedures | The response to an emergency or disaster hinges on several factors, including what the law requires businesses to do. Vision Net will help your business document the correct procedures and develop security protocols that will make it easy for staff and management to get your network running and your business succeeding.
4. Document Backup and Restoration Processes | Vision Net will help your business draft procedures to create backup operations prior to a disaster as well as policies regarding data recovery. Our plans include alternative methods to store and access data in the event that some infrastructure becomes compromised. Vision Net’s managed IT services help in these situations as well. If your business already leverages cloud services for critical backups for data recovery, Vision Net can help you implement a stronger security strategy.
5. Perform Routine Tests and Exercises | Making routine tests and exercises a part of the disaster planning process will benefit your business’ recovery process immensely. Vision Net has developed a security strategy that includes penetration testing, phishing tests, and other proactive solutions that will keep your network safe from the start. Exercising a recovery plan reduces the amount of time employees take enacting it because they will already know what to do in the event of a disaster. Vision Net’s testing examines each step of a plan to ensure that it will perform as needed, and your business can find out what will go wrong with their plan before it needs to work.
Vision Net’s Managed Services can help with stress testing a recovery plan by conducting frequent audits and reviews. We use the information obtained during this process to develop recommendations on Vision Net products and services to assist in mitigating the impact of a disaster. Businesses experiencing rapid growth and change will find this service especially valuable. Risks change as businesses change requiring a recovery plan that can accommodate more variables and unknowns. Do not leave recovery to chance, plan ahead! Vision Net services keeps businesses prepared for the worst. Whether there is a dramatic natural disaster or data breach, a business’ survival hinges on its ability to resume normal operations as quickly as possible.
Vision Net’s Suite of products (Vision Connect, Vision Secure, Vision Voice) place your business in the best possible position in the event that disaster recovery is necessary. From Vision Net’s PCI compliant off-site backups and dual provider SD-WAN connectivity solutions to Vision Voice and UCaaS, you can rest assured that you’ve taken the steps to be prepared.
