No matter how ironclad a disaster recovery system might be, it is important to subject it to regular testing in processes and among employees. The key to maintaining a healthy DR plan is by routine testing.
FREMONT, CA: A disaster recovery (DR) plan can support and also cause significant damage to the financial assets of the company. It is vital to understand what are the drivers that can save the company and which of the habits should be avoided to maintain the safety of the company. It has been reported in many resources that companies make severe mistakes in terms of set up and maintenance of the programs. The errors which many professionals make and how they can be prevented is listed below:
• Data Redundancy to be on the Safer Side: The common mistake of storing data multiple times and ways is not a good thing, especially for business continuity.
• Insufficient Recovery Capacity: Occurs when the cloud is used only for storage; issues with recovery are common in this case. When the cloud is used as a service provider, it manages the company data, keeping the downtime to a minimum.
• Overloading Backup: It is of grave importance to know that not all data needs backup. If the data isn’t going to reflect any change, its best to archive it.
Best Practices for Testing:
To cross-check that the disaster recovery plan will support when needed the most, these best practices need to be considered:
• Interchanging Roles: The payroll manager knows how to deliver the paychecks, even in conditions not so ideal. But it is necessary for the A/R clerk to know it as well. In case of disaster, more than one person should be able to a role.
• Scenarios to Deal with Reality: Various DR plans have always focused on what should be done during an emergency, but before the actual situation, plenty of factors can go unruly. It is necessary to test employees under a variety of possible scenarios.
• In-Depth Analysis is a Friend: When checked in depth, the DR tests would show more than a sign that may not have been favorable or okay. It is the whole point of DR testing, and it is a proper procedure if the small signs leading toward problems are found so that adjustments can be made.
