When Disaster Strikes

When it comes to disaster Recovery planning, there are two categories of SMBs: the haves and the have-nots. The haves are those who have already invested in and implemented adequate disaster recovery plans and will most likely survive. Then there are the have-nots who are taking a “wait-and-see” approach and could end up either losing their businesses altogether or coming very close to it if a disaster were to strike.
Both 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina emphasized the invaluableness of such plans. For awhile, it seemed like everyone was jumping on the bandwagon and implementing them. But the wake-up call proved short-lived. A recent Harris Interactive study shows that only 49 percent of business executives view disaster recovery systems as crucial or important. This is despite downtimes that cost businesses an average of $84,000 per hour, according to analyst firm IDC.
SMB executives are especially loath to ante up the funds for something that might happen, instead focusing their energies on the inevitable, like everyday operations and the bottom line. “There is a perception that solutions for disaster recovery are hard to implement, distracting, and expensive—it’s for the ‘big guys,’” says Tom Fedro, executive vice president of Irvine, Calif.-based FarStone Technology Inc., which develops PC and network-based hard disk imaging software, data backup applications, and CD emulation utilities. “For the SMB with so many conflicting priorities and so little time, the idea of disaster recovery is pretty far down the list of action items.”
What often ends up happening is disaster recovery becomes a “deal with it when it happens” priority, according to Fedro, and that can be a costly, sometimes disastrous mistake. By not protecting themselves—and their data—in advance of a crisis, SMBs are courting disaster, say experts in the field.