When we talk about business continuity or disaster recovery, it’s easy to picture the worst-case scenario: a major cyberattack, fire, flood or some other event that shuts everything down.
But most business disruptions aren’t that dramatic.
Sometimes the internet is down on a Monday morning. A server fails. Microsoft 365 isn’t available. Someone accidentally deletes an important file. Or the one employee who knows how to handle a critical process is unexpectedly out of the office.
None of these situations sounds like a “disaster.” Until your employees can’t work.
Being prepared isn’t about assuming something bad is going to happen. It’s about looking at the technology and processes your business relies on every day and asking a simple question:
If this wasn’t available tomorrow, what would we do?
Here are six common disruptions worth planning for.
1. Cyberattacks and Security Incidents
Cybersecurity is obviously part of the conversation.
Phishing, compromised accounts, ransomware and other security incidents can interrupt operations and potentially make important business information unavailable.
But preparing for a cyber incident involves more than installing security software.
Your business should know:
- Who employees contact if they see something suspicious
- Who makes decisions during a security incident
- Which systems and data are most important
- Whether your backups can actually be restored
- How employees, customers or other parties will be notified if necessary
Employee training is important too. Your team doesn’t need to become cybersecurity experts, but they should know how to recognize something suspicious and, just as importantly, what to do when they see it.
The sooner a potential problem gets reported, the sooner someone can investigate it.
2. Hardware and Software Failures
Computers, servers, firewalls, switches and other equipment eventually fail.
Software has problems too. Sometimes there’s warning. Sometimes there isn’t.
The better question isn’t whether something will eventually need to be replaced or repaired. It’s whether you’ve planned for what happens when it does.
That includes keeping good backups, documenting important systems and understanding the age and condition of your equipment.
It’s also one reason we’re big believers in hardware refresh planning.
Waiting until a five- or six-year-old computer dies before deciding what to replace it with turns a predictable technology expense into an emergency.
Knowing what you have, when it should be replaced and what the plan is if it fails makes the situation much easier to manage.
3. Human Error
We’ve all clicked the wrong thing, deleted something we didn’t mean to or changed a setting we probably shouldn’t have. People make mistakes.
Good IT planning assumes that’s going to happen occasionally and puts safeguards in place so one mistake doesn’t become a major business interruption.
That could mean limiting employees’ access to only what they need, maintaining reliable backups, using security controls around important information and training employees on how to handle company data.
There should also be an easy way to ask for help.
We would much rather have someone call us and say, “I think I did something wrong,” than spend two hours trying to fix it themselves because they’re afraid to ask.
Technology should support your employees; not make them nervous about touching it.
4. Internet and Cloud Service Outages
Moving applications to the cloud solves a lot of problems, but it doesn’t mean outages disappear.
Your business may rely on Microsoft 365, cloud-based accounting software, a line-of-business application, VoIP phones and dozens of other online services.
And all of them depend, at least to some degree, on connectivity.
What happens if your internet connection goes down?
For businesses that can’t afford to be offline, a secondary internet connection may make sense. For others, using a mobile hotspot for a few critical employees may be enough.
You should also understand which applications can still function during an outage and which cannot.
The answer doesn’t have to be the same for every business.
The goal is to make that decision before the internet is down and everyone is standing around asking what they should do.
5. Severe Weather and Other Events That Keep You Out of the Office
Here in Western New York, we know a thing or two about weather interfering with plans.
Your building doesn’t have to be damaged for weather to disrupt the business. A snowstorm, power outage or other local event may simply make it difficult, or impossible, for employees to get to the office.
Could they work from somewhere else?
Remote work isn’t just about giving someone a laptop. Employees need secure access to the applications, files and information required to do their jobs.
And ideally, you’ve tested that access before you need it.
Your important data should also be protected somewhere other than inside your office. If your only copy of something important is sitting on equipment in the building, your options become very limited when you can’t get to that equipment.
6. When the Only Person Who Knows How to Do Something Isn’t Available
This one isn’t really an IT failure at all, but technology can play an important role in solving it.
Almost every business has one.
The person who knows the password.
The person who knows how payroll works.
The person who manages a particular vendor.
The person everyone asks because, “They’ve always handled that.”
Then that person goes on vacation, gets sick or leaves the company.
Important processes shouldn’t depend entirely on what’s stored in one employee’s head or on passwords saved to their computer.
Document critical processes. Cross-train employees where possible. Store credentials securely. Make sure more than one person has appropriate access to the systems the business depends on.
Documentation may not be the most exciting part of IT, but it becomes extremely valuable when the person you normally ask isn’t available.
Preparation Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
You can’t build a plan for every possible thing that could go wrong. You don’t need to.
Start with the systems and processes that would have the biggest impact on your business if they suddenly weren’t available.
What do your employees need to keep working?
What would affect your ability to serve customers?
What information couldn’t you afford to lose?
How long could you realistically operate without a particular system?
Once you know those answers, you can make better decisions about backups, security, internet redundancy, equipment replacement, remote access and recovery.
And that’s really what proactive IT is about.
It’s not buying technology just for the sake of having more technology. It’s understanding what your business needs and putting the right pieces in place before they become urgent.
From Reactive to Prepared
At Hurricane Technologies, we believe your IT provider should be helping you think about these questions while everything is working; not meeting you for the first time when something breaks.
That means understanding your business, planning for equipment replacement, reviewing security, testing backups, documenting your environment and talking about what’s coming next.
You may never need every part of your recovery plan.
But when something does interrupt your business, you’ll be glad you weren’t starting from scratch.
Would your business know what to do?
If you’re not sure how your business would handle an internet outage, failed server, lost data or another disruption, we can help you take a look at your current setup.
Hurricane Technologies can help identify the gaps and put a practical plan in place so your technology is ready to support your business; even when things don’t go exactly as planned.
