Back up: Five reasons why your business needs a recovery solution

Back up: Five reasons why your business needs a recovery solution

If you want to protect your business, you’ll want to set up a recovery plan – but what does this mean and why do you really need one?

A backup or recovery plan – sometimes also called a business continuity plan – is a personalised approach that lists potential threats and explains how your business should respond to them. This could be anything from a cyberattack to loss of data.

You might be thinking only huge corporations need this coverage, but the truth is all businesses are at risk. That’s why we say having a clear recovery plan is important for every company, whether you employ 2, 20 or 200 people, and here’s why:

Reason #1: Recover quickly

When an incident occurs, such as a cyberattack that shuts down your website, you’ll want to get back up and running as quickly as possible to reduce further disruptions – like loss of sales.

By having a clear plan of action on how to react, whether this involves contacting dedicated IT support who can help restore servers or knowing how to manage a ransomware attack, you’ll be able to put a stop to interruptions much faster. So, having a plan in place will help your business rapidly recover and make sure you can keep trading during and after the incident.

Reason #2: Empower employees

Panic, it’s the first thing we all naturally do when something goes wrong – and it can be highly stress-inducing, especially if you’re on holiday and your team need to respond in your absence.

If you’ve got a solid backup plan in place, they’ll know exactly what to do and won’t need to rely on your direction – and you won’t need to panic either. Altogether, saving time, saving stress and getting your business back to normal.

Having protective measures in place will also help every team member better understand their responsibility for securing business information, all to prevent human errors from happening.

Reason #3: Protect your data

Say your business falls victim to a digital virus that wipes important data, or you accidentally delete your list of pending orders. If part of your recovery plan isn’t having all company data backed up on the cloud, it could be gone for good.

So, having a process in place that secures all business information instantly will mean you can access the information remotely through a secure server – and avoid the disruption that could have been caused.

Reason #4: Defend your reputation

When it comes to creating a successful business, reputation is everything. As arguably your most important business asset, your customers’ security should be a top priority, to protect both them and your business’ future. So, you need to make sure their information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

If a cybercriminal gets into your social media channels and starts engaging with your followers, your reputation can also be instantly affected. Even more so if the cybercriminal can go on to hack your customers’ information, exploiting it or tricking them into clicking a malicious link.

So, having a recovery plan is non-negotiable if you want customers to keep coming back.

Reason #5: Avoid legal consequences

Last but not least, keeping hold of your bank statement and all other important documents isn’t only crucial for your business to keep running, but it’s vital for paying accurate taxes and completing successful audits.

If your company’s information is hacked and deleted, without a recovery plan, you could open yourself up to huge fines – and perhaps even legal consequences. Especially if you’re unable to supply the necessary documents during an audit by your country’s tax or revenue service.

From preparing your business to handle disasters to stopping staff from panicking in the face of threat to protecting your income, a recovery plan won’t only give you peace of mind, but it’ll reduce the chance of loss too.

Our advice for getting started? Make sure you set a realistic approach with clear, achievable objectives, and communicate with your team at every step.

For guidance on how to protect your team when working from home, dive into our article on how to respond to the security challenge of remote working.