| Business Continuity – Making Data Secure
![\"\"](\"/userfiles/data) Events like hurricane season in US, Natural disaster of Tsunami and ongoing threats of other threats like earth quakes etc have once again made disaster preparedness a topic of much discussion. For individuals this may be concerned with insurance, facilities, and human resources issues.Interestingly, business leaders are discussing information systems well prepared to deliver their business continuously. But there are some big concerns for such businesses and their heads that how quickly could information systems be fully restored in the event of disaster? Another question among their minds are how much data might be lost? What would be the costs, direct and indirect? How would the business cope with the effects of downtime and data loss?
Most IT managers now very clearly knows the basics of preparedness: vital data should be processed on reliable computers in a safe, clean environment. A full copy of data should be backed up to tape or other media on a regular basis, incremental or differential backups should be done daily (or more often if needed). However, what is also prescribed for such aware IT managers is to keep recent full backup off site in a secure place. Older media should be replaced. Any error messages that occur during backup should be resolved. Data restore should be tested quarterly.
Large organizations have, so far, addressed the need for business continuity by building redundant platforms, maintaining their applications and data on identical computer systems in different locations. This redundancy provides continuity with minimal interruption and data loss if one data center is damaged or destroyed. The cost and complexity of this approach, however, are considerable.
Make Redundancy Affordable
Despite increased awareness and training, companies still suffer data loss. In a recently concluded survey of IT executives, 75% of respondents indicated that their companies suffered unrecoverable loss of corporate data - data that they thought had been successfully backed up to tape - due to unreadable, lost or stolen media.
Even if data backup procedures are followed, restoration of information systems after disaster can be a long and costly process. Data cannot be restored until damaged facilities, servers, network infrastructure and connections have been replaced. Clearly a more expedient solution is needed to assure business continuity.
In a positive move from security and data protection solution vendors, a better alternative is now available. Many organizations have designed a business continuity platform for small to mid size organizations. Using a combination of effective new technologies and best practices, this platform provides the versatility and reliability of redundant data centers without the high cost. It enables businesses to recover quickly if servers are damaged. Information Systems operations can resume in alternate locations if primary facilities are destroyed. Low implementation costs and monthly fees make this solution a good fit for small to mid-size businesses and professional firms that cannot risk prolonged interruption of information systems or data loss.
Sitting at Risk
How do a CIO or even a CEO know weather he or she needs business continuity platform services? It simply comes down to this: If downtime or data loss would cost you revenue, clients, or competitive advantage, then his or her business should consider these solutions seriously. The need for disaster preparedness applies to businesses of all sizes, even those far removed from natural disasters and terrorism. | 
