There is a close relation between disaster preparedness and cloud technology. Many small and medium sized enterprises are adopting cloud technology with the aim of improving their preparation for disaster. This move is paying off for businesses that invest in cloud technology.
Today’s small and medium enterprises are in a unique position to adopt the cloud, which does not just provide a competitive advantage but it also improves the ability of businesses to recover from disasters while protecting company information.
Many small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) cannot afford lengthy downtimes. Such companies should have the ability to recover quickly from a disaster. Cloud technology offers sound solutions and comprehensive data security measures that enable businesses to be better prepared for disasters. The technology also enables companies to recover quickly from natural disasters such as floods and fires as well as man-made problems like theft and destruction to property.
Businesses that adopt the technology early, especially in the area of server virtualization, enjoy even greater disaster preparedness. It is very important for companies to embrace innovation so that they respond better to challenges. In order for business owners to take advantage of the opportunity to improve disaster preparedness, they should take the following actions:
Start planning now
Business owners should device a disaster preparedness plan now. The plan should have an evaluation of how strategic technology such as cloud computing can help in such efforts.
Implement strategic technologies
For better disaster preparedness, small and medium sized businesses should adopt integrated cloud backup which offers offsite storage and disaster recovery. Cloud computing also offers automated physical to virtual backup conversion which allows businesses to easily recover data from applications like accounting programs and customer relations software.
Protect company information
Business owners can exploit cloud technology’s comprehensive security and backup solutions to protect their physical and mobile systems. Many business owners opt to backup in the cloud.
Review
Conduct a quarterly review of the company’s disaster preparedness.
The cloud environment is quite stable. Clients are allowed to perform technical due diligence to estimate the level of risk in a cloud solution. When choosing a cloud service provider, find out how the cloud is structured. Many cloud service providers have their data centers in stable countries that are not prone to political instabilities or any other natural disaster such as earthquakes or volcanic activities. This minimizes data loss due to natural or artificial factors.
Many cloud service providers allow business owners to undertake site visits and audits to find out the providers’ recovery time and point and to calculate the impact on the business in case of a failure.
About the author
Zoe Maldonado is a freelance writer and blogger for TechBreach who enjoys writing about all things mobile and electronic and spending time with her very active twin boys.