When Disaster Strikes

MISSION STILL CRITICAL
“Their business data and systems are no less critical to them than those same systems are to Fortune 500 companies,” says Bob Roudebush, director of solutions engineering for Double-Take Software Inc., a provider of real-time, open-file data replication and failover software based in Southborough, Mass. “As a matter of fact, they are probably more important to the sustainability of the business after a disaster.”
Studies back up Roudebush’s comments. Close to 40 percent of SMBs will go out of business if they can’t get access to their data within 24 hours after a crisis, according to numerous studies, including a recent one by industry analyst firm Gartner Inc.
Boston-based Yankee Group Research Inc. senior analyst Gary Chen concurs with Roudebush. “In short, bad things happen,” says Chen. “Some things are invaluable and cannot be replaced, like data. Some other things, like servers and such, can be replaced, but the downtime and disruption can easily sink a small business.”
The landscape for disaster recovery has changed dramatically over the past several years, and today options abound for SMBs, according to Roudebush. “While historically, real-time DR solutions have been complex and expensive, there are many solutions on the market today that are both affordable and accessible, and provide a higher level of protection without cost and complexity,” he says. “You don’t need costly, proprietary hardware solutions and huge amounts of connectivity to do DR properly. The challenge is educating SMB customers about the alternatives that are out there.”
In order to do that well, you need to look at the individual needs of your SMB customers. “Think about what your customer needs now and in six months, or where they can fix a pressing problem and then leverage that product to pick up additional intelligent and clever solutions,” says Sajai Krishnan, general manager of the StoreVault division of Network Appliance Inc., based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
You need to sit down with your SMB customers and talk about what is most important to them in the event of a disaster, which can take many forms, including natural disasters, but are more often the result of human error. “Disasters are unpredictable and everybody is susceptible, not just those in areas prone to natural disaster,” says Steve Georgis, president and CEO of ProStor Systems Inc., in Boulder, Colo. “Most data loss comes from within—system failures, operator error, disgruntled employees, viruses.”
It is also important to do a business impact analysis, even if it’s just an informal one, says Roudebush, in order to match the criticality of the data and systems customers have with the appropriate level of protection. “This ensures that not only will they be able to resume operations after a major disaster, but that they are also spending their precious budget dollars wisely and not underinsuring or overinsuring the systems in their environment,” he says.