As businesses rely more on technology to run operations and manage distributed teams, protecting your communication systems from catastrophic events becomes increasingly important. The best preparation for uncertainty is taking the initiative to develop a clear disaster recovery plan. Disaster recovery involves crucial steps, starting with prevention and mitigation, to fully restore data and operations after a disruptive occurrence like natural disasters or cyberattacks.
In this article, I explored the importance of protecting your communication tools by defining what disaster recovery is and explaining what a disaster recovery plan is. I outlined the key features of a disaster recovery plan, the types of plans available, and how disaster recovery software can benefit your small business during uncertain times.
How does disaster recovery work?
Although you don’t always know when disaster will strike, you can create a plan for what you will do before, during, and after the event to recover. One of the first steps in preparing your business is working through the five steps of disaster recovery.
1. Prevention
While many disasters are entirely unexpected, some are preventable. Especially when it comes to cyberattacks or technological failures, many systems and processes can be implemented to decrease losses and other adverse outcomes. So, the first step in disaster recovery is assessing your business or communication system for vulnerable areas.
For VoIP phone systems, this means analyzing where you need more protection and adopting a monitoring service that alerts you to issues with your phone system. Prevention also involves creating safeguards or incorporating VoIP security tips, such as performing routine audits of your communication systems or choosing providers with disaster-proof features like data encryption and cloud storage.
2. Mitigation
The second step in disaster recovery focuses on decreasing the likelihood of a loss of life or property in the case of a catastrophic event. For businesses that rely on communication technology, this means implementing measures to reduce the likelihood of replacing hardware or software your business needs to operate.
With a VoIP phone system, selecting providers with georedundancy is crucial, as they can route calls through another geographic location in case of an outage. You should also have backup data, internet connection, and equipment available to access your phone system in case of a disaster.
3. Preparedness
Another aspect of planning is preparing your employees and team members for emergencies. This means having an evaluation plan or training on handling issues that will likely influence your business. For example, what will you do during a power outage, software failure, or other disaster? Also, which team members, IT professionals, or support services will be responsible for implementing your disaster plan?
As it is often stated, failure to plan is planning for failure. So, creating a disaster team, contact list, and recovery plan will provide a resource to rely on in an emergency. Additionally, training your team members in these areas will ensure they know what to do, which can help reduce stress and panic while providing more clarity on navigating chaos with a sense of calm.
4. Response
While most of these steps focus on what to do before a disaster, the response covers what to do after one strikes. During an unexpected event, you should rely on your plan and the team members who will guide you through the storm. For example, if you are experiencing a system outage, allow IT professionals to work on getting you back online, or, in the case of a natural disaster, stay connected to emergency services in your area.
If a disaster affects your ability to provide services to customers or clients, you should also have a reliable method of communication to update them on your business. This could involve preparing an automated message, voicemailbox, or helpline to handle their concerns or using social media to post announcements and real-time updates.
5. Recovery
Once a disaster occurs, every business’ final step and concern is how to rebuild or reclaim what was lost. Depending on the severity of the disaster and the extent of the damages, this could take days, weeks, months, or even years. Therefore, recovery begins by assessing the situation and systematically working to return to the new normal that follows an unexpected event.
For businesses that have lost access to internet service, this means working with your provider to restore that service or switching to a backup internet service provider. When you have lost data or experienced security issues, this means updating your passwords and implementing a data recovery plan.
Natural disasters that damage equipment or power outages can also require you to file insurance claims or find new work spaces as your business gets back on its feet. But you should remember that disaster recovery takes time and resources, so make sure to access any aid or services for small business owners.
Key features of a disaster recovery plan
Now that I have introduced the disaster recovery process, it’s time to address the question: “What is a disaster recovery plan?” A disaster recovery plan is a smart investment for small business owners because it focuses on protecting all aspects of your operations. Developing a plan also involves gathering information about your business, building a team of recovery professionals, and creating a clear strategy which includes the following key features:
- Risk assessment: Before creating a disaster recovery plan, you should analyze what a disaster would look like for your business and list any potential threats. For example, if you live in a location prone to unfavorable weather patterns, become aware of how certain seasons can influence your daily operations.
- Backup data and restoration: The most critical part of disaster recovery is knowing what will happen to your data if a server goes down or your data is compromised. For example, you should know how and where your data is backed up, the frequency of backups, and how to restore data or services if your system goes down.
- Clear roles and responsibilities: In your disaster planning, you should also have a leadership plan that assigns specific roles to team members for certain events. For example, appointing data stewards or IT professionals to oversee a data recovery plan, and adding roles for marketing professionals who can create a clear strategy to communicate with clients and customers during a natural disaster.
- Communication channels: Businesses that regularly engage with clients and customers should identify methods for making announcements and communicating during disaster recovery. For example, will you alert your clients or customers via email, social media, phone call, or multiple methods? Will you also need to provide real-time updates from your business?
- Testing and evaluation: While having a plan is essential, you should also practice it by performing drills and testing with employees and team members. By practicing your plan, you can analyze areas where you need to change or improve your recovery process.
Additionally, small business owners would benefit from creating a clear plan to evaluate the financial losses resulting from a disaster. By tracking some of the following analytics, like the cost of running your business and what you need to run it effectively, you can calculate the time your business can go without key resources.
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA): Like a risk analysis, the BIA examines how a disaster affects operations. For example, if your phone system fails, how will that impact customer service or agent management? This information can then be used to calculate the associated costs of delayed service or extended downtime.
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO): If you lose access to your communication system or services, RTO is the maximum amount of time your business can afford to be out of commission. Keeping an updated record of this information can also be used to calculate insurance claims or make decisions about workforce management.
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO): In contrast, RPO is the maximum amount of time that a business can recover after data loss. This measurement is based on the amount of data saved, the last backup for your business, and how long it will take you to access or recover your data during a crisis.
- Resource management: Once you know this information about your business, you can plan the best approach to managing your resources. This might include outlining emergency funding sources for small business owners or contributing to a dedicated business savings account.
Types of disaster recovery
Depending on the type of business you have, there are different methods of recovery that can help restore data or network coverage. While a sound backup system works well for companies with local storage, cloud contact centers would benefit from access to data centers. To learn more about which type of disaster recovery will work best for your business, select one of the tabs below:
Selecting disaster recovery solutions for small businesses
Whether you already have a VoIP phone system or are looking for a new provider, there are some disaster recovery solutions you should look for in VoIP software that are especially beneficial for small business owners. So, I have included a list of some of the features you should consider:
An important feature to look out for in disaster recovery solutions is georedundancy, in which a provider has multiple servers in different geographical locations. With redundant servers, you don’t have to worry if one location experiences an outage or system failure because of various backups. This is especially beneficial during natural disasters, which affect a specific area.
While some small businesses may rely on local storage to retain data, most VoIP providers offer cloud hosting and storage access. Most providers that employ a cloud-based system replicate your data in the cloud, so you can easily retrieve your data during a disaster. In this sense, cloud storage can mitigate the loss of data and the financial repercussions of extended outages.
While advanced routing protocols are often utilized to enhance customer service in daily operations, these strategies can also be advantageous during a disaster. You can still accept calls through an application by directing calls to mobile devices like tablets or cell phones. This guarantees that even if there are issues with your hardware, you can make announcements or sustain some of your business operations.
Enhanced 911 (E911) is a feature that many VoIP providers offer that allows you to route calls directly to emergency services. Especially for businesses that work with communities or provide services like healthcare, having an emergency response system can ensure that callers access the appropriate services during a local disaster.
Top VoIP providers with disaster recovery software
Many business phone providers offer disaster recovery software as part of your subscription. Check out the following cloud-based solutions that provide reliability, business continuity, and geographic redundancy.
Disaster recovery services | Monthly starting price (per user) | Key features | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|
 | $30 |
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 | Contact sales for pricing |
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 | $25 |
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 | $19.99 |
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 | Contact sales for pricing |
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Benefits of disaster recovery software
Most benefits of adopting disaster recovery software focus on ensuring you can regain access to your data and services during any disruption to your business. For many companies, a hosted VoIP phone system will give you access to disaster recovery solutions. So, if you are thinking about implementing these tools, the following list outlines some of the advantages for small businesses:
- Decreased downtime: Disaster recovery software’s most significant benefit is improving recovery time. Whether you have a redundant system or backup data storage, these systems allow you to get back to business faster after an unexpected event.
- Comprehensive data protection: One of the most valuable assets for a business is its data. Therefore, disaster recovery software is essential because it protects your business from losing or corrupting important data.
- Loss prevention: While disasters are inherently difficult to recover from, one of the greatest concerns for many businesses is the loss of business and financial resources. Disaster recovery software makes it easier to stay connected to your communication system, which mitigates the loss of clients, customers, and potential revenue.
- Advanced security: Catastrophic events and local disasters can make your business more vulnerable to attacks, so disaster recovery software often includes data encryption, regular monitoring, and testing to prevent cyberattacks.
- Accessible support: This type of software is even more critical for businesses in areas with a higher risk for natural disasters because it can ensure that you can maintain access to your communication system. Also, look out for VoIP providers that offer priority or emergency support.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
The five disaster recovery steps are prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. In this sense, disaster recovery reflects the belief that the best defense is a good offense. Preparing for a disaster is about more than reacting to a catastrophe; it’s about having a clear plan.
In the case of a natural disaster, a disaster response is how a business responds to that event. So, if a storm or power outage causes your call center to go offline, a good disaster response would be planning to route your calls to another location or phone system.
Numerous types of software work well for disaster recovery, but small businesses could benefit from software with features like georedundancy, multiple data centers, and cloud storage. For example, providers like RingCentral, 8×8, and GoTo Connect offer business phone plans with these features.
Bottom line
Investing in disaster recovery software is a smart choice for business owners who want reliable data protection and preparation for an uncertain future. By developing a disaster recovery plan, you can ensure your data and systems are recoverable. So, instead of fearing the unknown, focus on creating and implementing a strategic process for how your business will respond if something goes awry.
