Security

IT Lessons Learned for Houston Business in Light of Tropical Storm Imelda

Causing record-breaking floods and devastation for parts of Southeast Texas, Tropical Storm Imelda was deemed the fifth-wettest tropical storm recorded in US history. The storm began on September 17th, 2019 before dissipating four days later. Aside from the lasting personal loses, the storm had an impact with regards to businesses operating in the area. Those without backup and disaster recovery plans in place, in particular, felt the effects of this natural disaster. Imelda’s impact reminds us how important a solid backup and disaster recovery plan is in the hurricane and flood-prone city of Houston.

This article will cover how storms can lead to data loss and how businesses can properly prepare for the next big storm which will inevitably happen in Houston.

Flooding and Data Loss

Of course, flooding can cause a huge amount of damage to any business. In the modern-day, one of the major issues is data loss. Computers, hard drives, and servers can be damaged by flood waters, resulting in businesses not being able to access their data.

Think about it. With your business relying on data more than ever before, how would it impact your bottom line if you were to lose all of your critical data? From customer information, to contracts and policies; businesses store huge amounts of data that they use to run their operations everyday. Operating without it simply does not seem feasible, does it? Well, this is something a number of businesses face when they do not have a disaster recovery plan in place. Complete data loss like this can easily lead to complete business collapse, or at the very least, set a business back months or even years.

In Houston, Backup and Disaster Recovery is a Must

Tropical Storm Imelda was a stark reminder to all businesses in the Houston area of the importance of implementing a robust backup and disaster recovery plan. At present, three in every four small business owners do not have a disaster recovery plan objective in place1. Plus, those that do often fail to update their plans, which can mean they are outdated and inefficient.

But, what exactly is backup and disaster recovery? Well, backup is the first part of the process. This involves making extra copies of your data in an unimpacted area to keep it out of harm’s way. Today, many companies choose to backup their data to cloud servers located in other parts of the world with cybersecurity controls in place to protect that data offsite. This configuration is not only beneficial should there be a storm, but also if you encounter a problem with a software upgrade, database corruption, accidental deletion, or cyber attack.

What about disaster recovery? This refers to planning and putting steps in place to re-establish or maintain access to IT resources, business processes, data, and applications after an outage. Therefore, in regards to the storm, this would have meant getting back online and up and running as quickly as possible, with minimal business disruption. Businesses may have switched over to a redundant set of storage systems and servers until their primary data center was functional again, for example.

A lot of people mistake backup for being disaster recovery. However, while backing up your data is critical, this is not enough to keep your business up and running after a disaster. A tested and robust disaster recovery plan is needed to ensure business continuity.

Lacking Resources? Call a Managed IT Service Provider

Many businesses lack the time and resources to effectively implement a backup and disaster recovery plan. That’s often why the best thing to do is to align yourself with an experienced IT services company in Houston who will be able to manage the entire process for you and respond quickly when disaster strikes. They will be able to design and implement a custom backup and disaster recovery plan that works for your business. After all, all businesses are different, and therefore, for a recovery plan to be effective it must be custom to your company and your requirements. An experienced IT services company will ensure that your backup and disaster recovery plan is right for you and will be able to offer many other benefits rolled in with their Managed IT Services.

Ryan Lakin