IT continuity for SMEs and sole practitioners
Andrew Barnes suggests some simple steps to keep your IT up and running without breaking the bank.
Business continuity is an exercise that many businesses, particularly the smaller ones and sole practitioners, do not seriously consider until it is too late, when vital data has already been lost or users are unable to access key applications that keep the business running.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
Don’t avoid thinking about business continuity. Make sure that you have a plan in the event of a disaster.
Continued...
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Business Continuity for Sole traders and SME
Business Continuity isnt rocket science, nor does it need to be an expensive excercise that the majority of IT businesses push you towards. Consider all your business processes and categorise them with timeframes of acceptable recovery (the recovery point objective).Consider the scenarios that will disrupt your business processes i.e. theft of IT, illness or accidents, computer virus, IT failure, locaility issue accessing the office, fire, flood.......and so on....Put plans in place to ensure your processes can return to service should you be affected by any of the scenarios. In some case, it may be as simple as securing your data and/or applications for your laptop or office desktop. For some businesses, it may require spare IT equipment, offsite storage of critical documents, payroll facilities or a reserved office space with computers and telephones.Every business is different and there isnt one solution to fit all. Mark Halsall