As with most things in life, it’s easy to procrastinate, especially when it comes to preparing against unforeseen circumstances. Much of the data loss, cost of outages and loss of customers can be avoided with careful planning.  Here 5 Steps You Must Take to Protect Your Small Business Data from Disaster:

1) Don’t wait until it’s too late.

We’re all guilt of being lazy and procrastinating, but that’s precisely the point of disasters.  They come out of nowhere.  Didn’t expect that cup of coffee to spill and short-circuit your computer, did you?  How about that heavy rainstorm that caused a flash flood in your first floor office or that fire in the server room after the AC broke down?  Create a plan ahead of time, so that you’re ready when disaster strikes.

2) Protect information completely.

Create a backup of everything in multiple formats including: external hard drive, company network, off-site location and using cloud-based storage options.  Additionally, protect against cyber attacks with real-time monitoring and up-to-date security software.

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3) Get employees involved.

Best practices are key to a streamlined process of data recovery.  Train all employees on what to do when they accidentally delete an important file or some other disaster strikes.

4) Test frequently.

Remember the fire and tornado drills you used to practice in school?  The same principle applies to disaster preparedness and recover testing.  Practice makes perfect, so test everything repeatedly to make sure your safeguards are working properly.

5) Review your plan.

Review your disaster preparedness and recovery plan every quarter to make sure it is up-to-date and the plan is top of mind.

Source: www.firmology.com