What, Me Worry?

Backup and Recovery,  some questions to ask...

Take a moment to think about all of the information stored in your company’s Software (ERP) solution. Now consider what would happen if that data were all gone. How many man-hours would it take to rebuild that database? What would happen to business processes like invoicing, receiving, and shipping? How would you pay bills and collect money? How much would it cost if your business were to suddenly stop?

Extra points if you email me who the gentleman in the picture is.

Disaster recovery can slip through the cracks, because people often associate it with natural disasters like a fire, tornado, flood, earthquake, or hurricane. Because these are not everyday occurrences, it’s easy to forget about recovery until it is too late. More commonly, it’s too late when a motherboard fails, the database becomes corrupted, or something else less spectacular than a disaster of epic proportions occurs.

Many organizations have seen these situations become a reality because they were not prepared with an adequate backup and recovery plan for their ERP solution that has been thoroughly tested to make sure everything is covered. Most ERP solutions are implemented with redundancy in mind so that the application itself can be backed up in a minimal amount of time. To make sure that the data are restored along with it, it’s good to ask these questions of your current backup and recovery solution.

How Reliable is the Restore Process?

A quote form Gartner Research states that a ridiculously high number of tape backups fail. Gartner denies ever having reporting the number that’s tossed around, but anyone who has worked with disaster recovery knows that the restore process can be subject to problems that result in failures. To that extent, it’s good to find out how well a solution did in testing, and then test the recovery process, as well, using your data set. Not only should the data be restored without problem, but the process should be easy to manage.
Do you have adequate documentation or knowledge on how to do this ? If not put on your list for tomorrow. 

How Long Does it Take to Restore Data?

A white paper from Vision Solutions reported that on average, businesses lose between $84,000 and $108,000 for every hour their IT systems are down. The longer it takes to get ERP data back up, the more costly it is to the organization. Knowing ahead of time how long this process might take could help the company better prepare for downtime with contingency plans that address how to remain productive while the ERP solution is out of order. An ounce of Prevention.... 

Is the Data Safe?

First, determine where the backup data information is stored. In the cloud somewhere or sitting in a vault on premises? Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Onsite data storage is good if there are communication outages that restrict access but can present a problem if a fire destroys the building along with the contents of the backup. Some companies find storing backup data in two locations to be the safest route.

Another thing to look at is how the data is stored. is it encrypted? or is it visible to people who shouldn’t have access to them? Leaving data unprotected could cause greater problems than just those associated with downtime.

Making sure that backup and recovery solutions work and keep the data safe are the key elements to a successful strategy. Policies, processes, and everything else can be addressed to fit the needs of the individual industry and company as long as you can get the data back into your ERP system and no one else has the ability to poke around in it.

Another Option is our MDS -SaaS Clould offering which takes all this responsibility from you.  Interested?

For more information on TSH or MDS call The Systems House, Inc. at 1-800- MDS-5556. Or send a message to sales@tshinc.com

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