In 1981, a book with a memorable title, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, was released and quickly became a bestseller. The book was written after the premature death of the author’s young son. One of the key points in the book is that sometimes there is no reason for things. Sometimes bad things happen “just because.”
What does this have to do with Information Technology? Sometimes bad things do happen to the best and most secure information technology systems and networks. It could be a technological or natural disaster that unexpectedly eliminates access to the network. The smart business manager has a plan for when bad things happen “just because.”
Why have a plan? Here are a few real-life examples from the stormy winter of 2018:
Example 1: A Local New Jersey Law Practice with No Business Continuity Plan in Place
A local NJ law firm recently lost access to its network for almost a full week because a snowstorm caused numerous down power lines. Of course, without power, everything in their office was down. As it turns out, they did not have a business continuity plan. What did they do? They scrambled and called us for help. Since nothing was in place, the best we could offer was to go to their offices, physically pick up all the key network hardware, bring it to our location, set it up, and set their staff up with remote access to the server/network. It took many hours, cost lots of money and due to the lack of a plan, caused the law firm to be “out of business” for about 3 days in total.
Example 2: A Northern NJ Accounting Practice with a Business Continuity Plan in Place
We all know, tax season is a critical time for accountants. Wisely, our client prepared for “when bad things happen.” In this example, the firm experienced an unexpected and catastrophic server hardware failure in the middle of tax season. But, with IT Radix’s assistance several years ago, they had implemented a Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) appliance. When the server hardware failure occurred, within minutes, we switched their access over to the onsite BDR appliance. The firm ran their accounting software on the BDR until a new server was installed. The downtime was minimal (just a few hours); and as a result, they did not skip a beat.
Example 3: Marketing Firm Loses Power but Has a Business Continuity Plan in Place
Remember that snowstorm? Another IT Radix client was hit by the same snowstorm as the law firm above. But we had previously helped them develop a disaster recovery plan. Soon after they lost power, PSE&G informed them power would not be restored for a week or more. Time to execute the plan. We leveraged their BDR appliance which replicates everything to the cloud. Within 4 hours of losing power, we shifted their operations to the cloud and their staff worked virtually until power was restored. Again, the plan worked!
The Lesson
Bad things can happen even to the most prepared enterprises. So, have a Backup and Disaster Recovery appliance and plan in place. You can minimize downtime, delight your clients and outsmart the competition! You cannot prevent all bad things from happening—some happen “just because.” But IT Radix is here to help ensure you are ready! Give us a call today to discuss disaster preparedness!
