Horon SME ::: IT Services for Small Businesses

A recent study discovered that, of companies experiencing a “major loss” of computer records, 43 percent never reopened, 51 percent closed within two years of the loss, and a mere 6 percent survived over the long-term  For small and medium-sized businesses (SMB’s) in particular, these statistics suggest the necessity of crafting a Business Continuity Planning (BCP) strategy grounded in a robust data backup and recovery solution.

Unlike enterprises, many smaller companies cannot afford optimal in-house strategies and solutions in service of BCP. 

These companies are consequently at an elevated risk of being put out of business due to any major loss of data. Loss of data could mean emails lost, accounting data lost, patient or client files lost, company records lost, client legal records or orders lost and so on.

Business Continuity Planning for Small and Medium Size Businesses

BCP is the blueprint for how businesses plan to survive everything from local equipment failure to global disaster. Data-oriented BCP, an indispensable component of business planning regardless of organization size, poses the following challenges. Smaller businesses generally lack the in-house IT resources to achieve these demanding planning, technical and process requirements. Therefore, many SMBs either neglect to implement any data-oriented business continuity plan or else approach data backup and recovery in a sporadic, rudimentary fashion that fails to conform to the best practices of BCP.

Understanding the risks of not having a plan in place:

o    Understanding Regulatory Compliance requirements in your industry. Regulations such as the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and other laws- state and federal.
o    Understanding how to mitigate the risk of losing vital business data, such as customer records.
o    Being aware of the environmental hazards that the business infrastructure is exposed to due to your geographical location.
o    Estimating time it would take to build the business back if disaster strikes without having any BCP in place.
o    Understanding ROI for having a BCP in place.