Knowing the Disaster Recovery terminology is important, but equally important is knowing what sorts of situations you could be faced with. At Innovative Solutions we don’t expect our clients to be disaster recovery experts, but having a baseline understanding of the terms used when preparing and executing a disaster recovery plan can make for a much easier process.

By asking about a few different scenarios in disaster recovery, executives can keep IT on their toes, and deliver better service to their end customers.

Internet Crash – It’s a common misconception that putting your systems in the cloud eliminates the need for a disaster recovery plan. While you may not have to back systems up on a regular basis, you DO need to protect yourself from losing access to the internet. If your company is dependent on Salesforce, Email, or any application that lives in the cloud, you’ll want to make sure you’ve asked about installing a backup internet connection.

Power Failure – Most people think of data when they hear disaster recovery. Unfortunately, if you live in an area with frequent power outages, data may be the least of your worries. Without electricity to power your technology, you’re dead in the water. If you have clients or employees who can’t do their jobs without a particular system, it’s a good idea to ask if you have it running on battery backup. If your business as a whole requires large amounts of power (manufacturing, technology, medical) it might be worth looking into a generator.

Hardware/Software Failure – The most common situations we come across at Innovative Solutions fall into this category. If you’re a non-technical reader, feel free to skim the list below for keywords you may have recognized one of your IT staff or vendors muttering during a system outage:

• Hard drive failed
• Bad motherboard
• Dead (or fried) power supply
• Broken cable (mice, squirrels, and other animals love to chew them)
• Blue screen of death
• Dead switch, ASA, or other piece of networking equipment

Viruses/Security Breach – This one may not qualify for the “unexpected” list because most executives seem paranoid that the NSA is reading their emails. Nevertheless, poor security and the havoc that can be caused by viruses brings businesses to their knees on a regular basis. In fact, according to some sources, 32% of computers in the world are infected with malware.

3rd Party Update – The last on this list is usually the most surprising to executives. When companies like Google, or Microsoft update their browsers (Chrome, Internet Explorer) it can break websites, and applications. If you don’t have the right support in place, this can leave you dead in the water for days at a time.

The above isn’t an all-encompassing list, but it should give you a good start in having the conversation with your IT department or partner on how prepared you are for when disaster strikes.