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The words in the title all have one thing in common: they are all potential disasters. While spilled coffee may not seem to have the same life-threatening overtones of a hurricane or fire, coffee spilled on the server that runs your entire business could mean the death of your livelihood. These events also elicit a very human response…panic!

Good disaster recovery planning and preparation can reduce, and perhaps eliminate, the panic that can set in at times of trouble. Disaster recovery planning, however, means more than simply approaching your IT Administrator and demanding zero downtime in case of a power outage, hardware failure, or natural disaster. True disaster planning requires attention to detail, thinking through the issues, and, well, planning.

Proper disaster recovery planning involves the entire organization, and it starts with a realistic look at your business. The first step in disaster planning is to capture an understanding of what is truly important to each segment of your business. Once you've determined the essential aspects of each segment, you must define the most critical business operations and job functions. The IT Manager will be concerned about systems, security, access, data, internet etc. The Sales Manager will be concerned about customer records and having the ability to receive and make customer phone calls. The HR Manager will be concerned with personnel files. These concerns illustrate the fact that technology is not the only aspect of disaster recovery. It is critical that you focus on what your business is really about, and what it will take to continue if a disaster occurs.

Once you know what's important to your business, develop goals that address each segment. For example:

	How will you maintain operational continuity?
	How will you ensure a quick recovery of personnel, systems, and data?
	How will you communicate your plan, policies, roles, and responsibilities across the organization?
	What safety policies and procedures will you establish to ensure that everyone is safe?
	What lines of communication will you use to contact your customers and employees so you don't lose touch in critical times?

Each business is different, however, and requires a different plan for different disasters. Develop several scenarios as you set your goals to ensure you've covered all the bases. Ask yourself:

	What if your IT administrator or CFO were suddenly incapacitated?
	What if the corporate office catches fire, or is flooded by a water main break?
	Consider the recent H1N1 flu outbreak; what will you do in the event of a pandemic?
	What if there's a simple power outage in your area, is there another place from which you and your employees can work?

Once you've thought through the possible disasters for your business, you must begin to develop responses to your scenarios. You may feel overwhelmed at this point, but it needn't be so complicated. Start with what you know. Begin assembling a portable disaster kit for all key personnel:

	Gather a list of resources and tools.
	Put together a portable list of employees, including their contact information both at home and at work.
	Do an analysis of your IT infrastructure and complete a list of all your hardware and software, including licenses.
	List locations for everything.
	Store a copy of backup media and licenses offsite; don't forget your user names and passwords.
	Create a customer list with all the contact information, and create a copy to store offsite.
	Gather together a list of your suppliers with contact and account information to store offsite.
	Talk to your vendors; what policies do they have in place?
	Make sure your banking information is secure. Talk to your bank or financial advisors. What are their disaster policies and procedures?

Next, you must develop a communications tree. This is a network of calling "buddies" within your organization to ensure that every employee is reached in the event of a disaster. Document the roles and responsibilities within the call network, and decide what information each person needs to know. How they will communicate-will they use a land line, cell phone, wireless, email, or a social networking site such as Twitter? Make sure everyone knows the procedure, regardless of where they fall on the list.
Once everyone is aware of the disaster, your attention should turn to business continuity. The bottom line is, you must develop disaster procedures that will keep your people working. This starts by determining what job functions can be performed remotely, and how.

1.	Do you have the hardware or software necessary work from another location?
2.	Are your employees trained to work remotely?
3.	Do you have backups of your data that are duplicated and stored offsite, and do the appropriate employees have access to it in times of need? Data maps and network diagrams are very useful tools when planning for disaster recovery.

Most importantly, have you made several written records of your disaster recovery plan? Simply thinking about a plan doesn't make it happen. As you travel through the planning process, write everything down in detail. Review the plan thoroughly, involving all key players in each scenario.

	Was there anything you missed?
	Was there a step that says call every employee, but doesn't list each employee's contact information?
	Is there a step that says restore from backup? Where is the backup kept? What is the backup methodology?

Once the plan is written down, give a copy to each key segment of your organization. Oh yeah, don't keep them all in one place…remember that water main break?

The bottom line is that disaster recovery planning critical to maintaining your business. For every day, every hour, that your business is down, revenue is lost. Studies show that small businesses that go down for 2 days or more are likely to go out of business. Don't be a statistic…be ready. Now, where did I put that coffee?

Kathy Lusby, Purchasing Manager at PRO OnCall Technologies, has worked in the IT field for 16 years. As Purchasing Manager at PRO OnCall Technologies, Kathy advises small and mid-size businesses regarding their IT and disaster recovery needs. Contact Kathy at (513) 294-1655 or email kathy.lusby@prooncall.com.

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