Is Virtualization Of Server Disaster Recovery Plan Right For My Transportation Business?
Have you been considering the virtualization of your server disaster recovery program, but just not sure if it is going to be as effective as what you’re using now? No doubt, your transportation business may have a lot of important data, files, and programs that it needs to be able to access on a continuous basis.
“Betty” has been involved with the transportation business for over 23 years. She is not using any form of virtualization or recovery. She and her husband owned an entire fleet of limousines, taxi cabs, and airport shuttles. Among her customer base were high profile politicians and powerful business moguls. Things were going great, until a tornado hit her city and destroyed most of the power lines and a large number of buildings. Her office was luckier than most.
Two large trees fell on the top floor of her office. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but plenty of equipment was damaged and all of her business files that were needed to continue business were destroyed as well. “Betty” never implemented a virtual server disaster recovery plan. She never thought about it and now she was in big trouble. Had she taken the time to educate herself and her staff about the benefits of virtualization, she may have fared a lot better.
Statistics show that 43% of all businesses that experience disaster induced data loss and who have not implemented virtualization of server disaster recovery plans, will not survive. Of those businesses, 51% will not survive the next two years and only 6% are able to survive a disaster like this long term. This is very serious, and virtualization of server disaster recovery plans should not be taken lightly, regardless of what industry you may find yourself in.
Why is the virtualization of your server disaster recovery plan so important? Due to the growth of the Internet, businesses have become more and more dependent on the availability of their IT equipment. It is estimated that most businesses spend only about 4% of their IT budget on virtualized server disaster recovery planning. This is not much, considering the huge risk a disaster poses to the viability of a business.
Disasters can be categorized into two main types. The first is known as a natural disaster. This can be due to hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, etc. Preventing a natural disaster is very difficult, but implementing a plan ahead of time can help reduce any losses tremendously. The second kind is known as human-induced disasters. These include infrastructure failures, spills, and bio-terrorism. In dealing with these types of disasters, an effective mitigation plan and surveillance are probably the best options to avoid loss.
Some control measures that are involved when dealing with virtualization of disaster recovery plans are detailed as follows:
1. Preventive measures – the goal is to prevent any disaster from happening.
2. Detective measures – the goal here is to detect any unwanted events from occurring.
3. Corrective measures – the goal is to restore or correct the entire system after the disaster.
As you can see, server disaster recovery plans help you maintain peace of mind, knowing that in the event of a disaster, all of your important data is going to be readily available. It can mean the difference between your business surviving or going down. Virtualization of your server disaster recovery plans is a great option for anyone, especially the transportation business.