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Natural disasters are becoming more prevalent and more intense, and this is especially evident when it comes to hurricanes. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has forecasted that the 2024 hurricane season is expected to be “highly active,” with a 90% chance of having more named storms than a typical year.
In fact, the total NHC forecast for the 2024 hurricane season includes 17-24 expected named storms (with winds of 39 mph or greater), of which 8-13 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or greater), including 4-7 major hurricanes (winds of 111 mph or greater).
With this in mind, and as the 2024 hurricane season starts to reach its late August and September peak, now is the time to formulate a hurricane disaster recovery plan. It is also a good time to explore your options for hurricane disaster recovery services and general disaster recovery solutions.
What is Disaster Recovery as a Service?
Hurricanes may be one of the most immediate concerns when it comes to backup and disaster recovery solutions, especially for organizations that have a home base near the coastline. However, disaster recovery services are a wide umbrella that provides a wealth of protection.
From natural disasters like storms and hurricanes to cyberattacks – (which are continually on the rise) – expert disaster recovery companies like DartPoints help find far-reaching solutions to any emergency that may interrupt a company’s everyday operations.
So, what does disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) entail? How can you enlist this rock-solid layer of protection for your business functions? Read on to uncover what you need to know about disaster recovery solutions and how your company can benefit.
The Impact of Hurricane Season on a Businesses
When it comes to disasters like hurricanes or even manmade emergencies like cyberattacks and data breaches, the ability to respond and protect your operations can be derailed. Issues that stem from disasters like power outages, equipment failures, and other compromises to your IT infrastructure can be detrimental. Furthermore, it can result in a considerable loss of revenue and invaluable time when you need it the most to recover from an emergency.
Outside of the financial and productivity losses, downtime results in untold costs to your organization’s brand and reputation. Extended periods of downtime can result in strained customer and vendor relations, gaps in the supply chain, lost data, and a wealth of other cascading problems that can take days, weeks, or even months to fix properly.
Disaster Recovery Planning for Hurricanes and Natural Disasters
The first step to disaster recovery is formulating a plan, and that begins with answering the following questions.
What is my organization’s critical equipment?
This can include servers, computers, and other equipment crucial to your company’s operations and could be impacted by a natural disaster close to home.
What software, data, applications, and other IT systems are crucial for conducting business?
Identify the IT infrastructure you depend on to be operational, and note all systems, software, and data you can’t afford to lose. This will help create the blueprint for your backup and disaster recovery solutions.
How much downtime can my organization afford, and what happens if this threshold is passed?
Take stock of the financial, productivity, and reputational damage that will occur after a set amount of downtime. Knowing how long you can be veritably offline without extensive repercussions will also help you map out the details of getting back to business as soon as possible.
Who do I need to communicate with and how?
When a disaster strikes, normal means of communication – like power, internet, and even cell phone service – can fail. This is why you need an in-depth list of who you need to maintain contact with after a disaster strikes, as well as considering the multiple ways you can communicate, regardless of any emergency hurdles.
Your disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) provider can help you identify these communication channels – even during the height of a hurricane or other natural disasters – and can ensure that everyone affected by the disaster stays on the same page.
Examining Technological Solutions in Disaster Recovery
While hurricanes and other natural disasters are on the rise, the good news is that there is a wave of technical advancements in backup and disaster recovery solutions.
Today, modern disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) providers can set up multiple initiatives to protect your data and systems. This can help you maintain your ability to work remotely in case of an evacuation or severe damage to your physical location.
In addition, the most advanced disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) providers have solutions for constant data backup, so you won’t lose access to your organization’s critical functions. This helps prevent any unforeseen data loss that could result in long-term consequences. For example, enlisting the assistance of a personalized and powerful recovery cloud will ensure that downtime is minimized and that organizations can maintain operational continuity, even if they have to evacuate miles away from home.
How to Implement Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) Solutions
The most important thing to keep in mind when researching different disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) solutions is to understand that every organization’s optimal disaster recovery plan is different and highly personalized.
As such, you don’t want to opt for an out-of-the-box solution that may have basic data recovery and backup attributes and doesn’t consider the individualized IT infrastructure, servers, systems, and likelihood of different disasters that are unique to your company.
Launching a Disaster Recovery Plan with Customized Guidance is Key
At DartPoints, we create every disaster recovery service plan from scratch. Our team of experts consults with each of our clients in-depth to ensure that their disaster recovery plan perfectly aligns with their distinctive needs.
We’ll help identify your pain points and weak spots. Additionally, we will create detailed blueprints for how you can get through the impact of a hurricane or disaster and get back to business as soon as possible while minimizing downtime and financial impacts.
The 2024 hurricane season is about to enter a highly busy phase. Furthermore, even after the hurricane season winds down in November, there are always looming threats – both manmade and natural.
Connect with the DartPoints team today and be proactive in crafting your disaster recovery plan so that if a hurricane or other emergency does indeed strike, you won’t be underwater.