Organizations are dramatically changing how they manage information. These changes are driven by current trends such as:
- Global competition in the market economy
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The movement toward an information driven society
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Legal requirements for information privacy
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Network and e-commerce security
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Organizational changes resulting from outsourcing and relationships
Increased levels of identity theft, civil unrest and acts of terrorism
Controlling access, sharing and securing information are critical issues facing the future success of 21st century organizations. The greatest challenge is developing comprehensive information management.
This includes not only how information affects the organization's plan to meet its strategic goals, but also, how quickly information is recovered in the event of a disaster. A disaster recovery plan is an essential part of information management. Information disasters occur for many different reasons, including:
- Natural Disasters
Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, fires and flood
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Infrastructure Failure
Power outages/surges, telecommunications and network failures
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Theft or other criminal activity
Destructive “hacking”, organized industrial espionage and crime
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Civil unrest
Looting, arson and vandalism
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Terrorist acts
Destruction of physical and electronic infrastructure
Businesses have to recover faster than ever, with minimal interruption, in order to stay competitive. An electronic document management system is the key to disaster recovery. Paper documents must be transformed into electronic documents. The Gartner Group estimates that 40% of businesses that have a disaster go out of business within five years. You need to be prepared for the worst and have a plan.
The key system components of a disaster recovery plan:
- Documents
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Networks and communications
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Hardware
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Software
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Databases
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Key Personnel that maintain the above systems
It is important to understand that documents, software and databases generally cannot be recovered unless they are backed up regularly and stored off site. You can replace hardware, networks and telecommunications, but without electronic document management, you may not be able to replace your documents.
How often should you back up your systems? It depends on what you can lose
and still recover. If you can only lose one day's worth of data, then you need
to back up every day. A minimum backup includes all the aforementioned critical
components. Ask yourself what it would cost you to lose critical documents and
data.
Organizations and professionals, who embrace quality information management and have a disaster recovery plan, will be able to survive disasters with minimal loss of business.
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