In the Information Age, technology has become almost any business’s greatest strength, as well as its greatest crutch. We all know that technology can add extreme value to almost any organisation (hence why having a managed service provider like Rapid IT is essential), however, it is important to acknowledge the costs of not having that technology up and running. Let’s examine that scenario today.
What is a disaster recovery plan?
In short, a disaster recovery plan (or “DRP”) is a set of pre-planned actions to be taken by an organisation or their IT support provider in the event of an unplanned outage; it is an arm of business continuity. For example, if you were running an online store and you found that it was down suddenly, what do you do? The DRP will tell you precisely what to do, to the letter. It will usually involve both minimising impact of the incident, as well as steps to get back to normal operation.
Why do businesses need a DRP?
The simple fact is that when a business’ IT systems are down, there is cost incurred. A 2016 study suggested that the average cost per minute of an IT outage was $9,000 and $250 for much smaller businesses. Imagine someone coming to your office and presenting a random invoice for tens of thousands of dollars and expecting you to pay. That is essentially how an IT outage impacts a business financially. On that basis, having a plan to get back up and running as quickly as possible could save a business significant money.
Customer satisfaction is also important, especially for front-facing organisations. A customer wanting to buy something likely wants it now, and if they experience your online store having an outage, the chances are that they will just go to buy the item somewhere else. This means that repeat customers cannot be created, since the opportunity has already left.
Also worth taking into account is the stress imposed on staff, as well as the downtime forced upon them. Any office job essentially has an office full of frozen workers if the power goes out, or if there is an IT outage. You still have to pay them their wage though, so getting them back to work ASAP is going to prevent a big efficiency hit.
Summary
Any IT outage is going to have extreme impacts on your organisation, from direct costs to customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and efficiency. On this basis, having an effective disaster recovery plan is essential.
Working with an IT helpdesk like Rapid IT to develop one could save your business thousands in the event of an IT outage, so don’t delay! Give Rapid IT a call today, on 1300 727 430.
