World Backup Day occurs annually on March 31. This day is a simple reminder that our critical data is simply not safe. All important business files and information can disappear in the blink of an eye due to bad weather, a hacker or even human error.
However, according to surveys conducted by the American Red Cross, more than two-thirds of small businesses fail to implement basic continuity measures. The primary reason being, most of them just don’t believe a disaster will strike them.
A business owner night rant: “A storm hasn’t hit us in 20 years! Why should I worry about disaster backup and business continuity?”
SMBs find it difficult to divert their limited time and financial resources to address low-probability threats when there are other immediate business needs that must be met. This mentality leaves your business vulnerable to not only natural disasters, but the more common “everyday disasters” that many small businesses seem to forget.
Consider that:
• More than 75% of SMBs experience some level of data loss
• 1 out of every 10 computers are infected with viruses each month
• 29% of disasters are caused by accident
Dona Childs, a disaster recovery expert, suggests that small business owners should keep a “disaster diary” for a 30-day period, taking note of every time a disruption affects your normal business operations. This could be small things, such as a micro-outage that causes your computer system to reboot, or a file being accidently deleted.
Even though these hiccups alone seem like small disturbances for your company, when they frequently happen, this harms your business more than you may realize. It lowers productivity, efficiency and, ultimately, revenue.
Consider that:
• The average cost of downtime to your business is estimated to be $5,600 per minute. (Uptime Institute Symposium)
• A power loss of at least one hour will negatively affect up to 70% of businesses each year. (Agility Recovery)
Through this exercise, you’ll begin to notice that these disruptions occur more often than you think and cost your company. You may also find that you are spending too much time trying to fix everything on your own. It might be time to contact a trusted IT services provider to take care of some of these responsibilities and help protect your business.
It’s crucial that you recognize the potential risks your business faces daily. While natural disasters seem unlikely, they can still happen, and everyday disasters are more common than you think. In either case, you cannot prevent a disaster from happening; however, you can still protect your business from suffering a great amount of damage due to potential data loss or downtime.
Want to talk about Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plans? Contact us now.
We’ll safeguard your business from data disaster so you can have that much-needed peace of mind.
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