The purpose of this report is to provide the best recovery alternatives for a company to safe-guard accounting information systems in case of natural disaster. As the company’s region is situated in a Natural disaster high-risk area, the loss of sensitive information for the company can and must be prevented. Nowadays companies that are exposed to such a risk can minimize their loss using the latest technology to store data and software: the cloud environment. Migrating software platforms and data information for a cloud environment is paramount for a company not only to avoid loss of data, but it will bring also future benefits: reduce IT internal area necessities (people and investments) and the timing necessary to restart the …show more content…
Considering that the company is in an area with high risk of natural disasters, the main objective of this report is to present alternatives for the fast recover of accounting data and all information necessary for the continuity of a company's operations in a case of a natural disaster. The report will analyse the data recovery alternatives and compare: • the use of On-Premise backup and cloud resources and; • the use of software as a service (SaaS) with software installed on workstations. Throughout the report it will be presented a conclusion and recommendations for choosing the right software and data backup’s platform in a safer environment and how these recommendations will help a company for a rapid recovery and continuity of its operations after a natural disaster. 3. The Alternatives for Data Storage Backup 3.1. On Site Backup/ Internal Servers- The Origin of Data Storage With the computer invention and all its effects on the routine of a company, electronically created data needed to be stored and the traditional way to store data was through internal servers, which stored all the information created related to the company’s operations. This server was installed within the company. The control over the information was under full control of the company and its staff. To keep this complex internal information storage system, it is necessary high investments in
According to the article, How to Successfully Implement a Disaster Recovery Plan on ameinfo.com, “most major organizations are running critical enterprise applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). These applications are integrated across the enterprise to such an extent that they touch everyone from employees and customers to suppliers and partners, and they are the backbone and life-blood of the organization” (ameinfo.com, 2003). Implementing a good disaster recovery plan is highly imperative to ensure business continuity. However, one of the biggest challenges is convincing business leaders to recognize the need and fund the change. An organization should be prepared for all forms of disasters and catastrophes and have a disaster recovery plan in place that will allow the system should function normally under any of these circumstances. This alone will provide a huge competitive advantage and allow the organization to remain functional during potential down times. Natural or any other form of disaster is something that cannot be predicted and the company should be well prepared to deal with any untoward incidents. Any business utilizing IT systems should have proper backup and restoration methods to reset the system in case of emergencies.
Key factors of the business continuity/disaster recovery plans are designed to ensure that the three principles of information security remain intact even if there is some kind of a disaster or service interruption. Perhaps the greatest of there is the area of “availability”. This is especially true when one considers what the VPN means to being able to communicate electronically in the midst of a crisis. One must remember that in normal operations information security is important and in times of distress it is that more imperative. This at times will prove to be challenging to say the least. However, the business continuity plan as well as the disaster recovery plan must spell out how the services of the affected area(s) will
Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity planning, which focuses on non-related aspects of IT, such as facilities, crisis communication, and personnel; whereas disaster recovery planning focuses on the IT-related infrastructure recovery and continuity (Ranajee, 2012). Disaster recovery planning must be a collaborative effort between company executives and IT team. These methods are examples of physical security systems, strict access protocols, and access authorization procedures required by HIPAA. The organization should provide layers of physical security within their infrastructure, such as 24-hour monitoring, biometrics, and higher levels of redundancy, with strong connectivity networks and back-up generators (Ranajee,
In this plan, Allegiant Healthcare defines the capabilities for continuing its critical operations in the event of a disaster. This plan identifies resources (people, technology, services, etc.) needed to maintain company’s critical operations. Included in the plan is the business recovery plan and the disaster recovery plan. The business recovery plan defines how Allegiant Healthcare will resume partially or completely its critical processes within a specified, predetermined time line following a disaster. In the disaster recovery plan, we identify how Allegiant Healthcare will recover its data, software, and hardware also within a specified, predetermined time frames after a
A Primer on How to Create a Bullet-Proof Disaster Recovery Plan for the Entire Organization
Data recovery is one of security planning that enable the continuity and recovery of data and technology after a natural or human-induced disaster (..) Businesses nowadays face multiple attacks, thus, data recovery is essential in any business continuity plan. This paper will discuss the security threats that businesses are facing and the appropriate data recovery strategies that come with.
Disaster recovery is the area of security planning that deals with protecting an organization or community from the effect of significant negative events. (Rouse, M) These negative events could be anything from hurricanes, earthquakes, other types of natural disasters to that of cyberattacks and terrorist attacks. Plans to help with recovery tend to give policies,
A disaster is “an occurrence that disrupts the functioning of the organization resulting in loss of data, loss of personnel, loss of business or loss of time” (Hiatt, 2010, P.4). There are four broad categories of disasters. According to Hiatt (2010), disaster occurs as a result of accidents, internal factors such as sabotage, natural disasters like earthquake and armed conflict such as war or terrorism (Hiatt, 2010). In each of these categories, the goal is to mitigate the impact and quickly recover from the disaster. In other to do that effectively, the organizations should put a Disaster Recovery (DR) plan in place before the actual disaster occurs. The DR plan, which is usually embedded in most organization’ business continuity
In 2011, IBM reported that only 6 percent of companies incurring a "major loss of business data" would be long-term survivors, while 43 percent would never reopen and 51 percent would close their doors within 24 months. Many of these companies no doubt felt that they had a viable disaster recovery plan, but they failed to realized that disaster recovery is only part of an effective business continuity plan. A disaster recovery plan is simply the process of ensuring that data can be recovered in the event that system data is lost through physical destruction or an issue with software such as a virus. A business continuity plan encompasses the preservation and recovery of data, but it also includes planning for the absence of a key staffer, disruptions in your supply chain or other issues that your business might face.
It is imperative to have a disaster recovery plan, it is no longer safe for any business, small or big, to have no protection against natural disasters or even getting hacked which is a common practice. Anyone of those
Disasters have become an inevitable part of businesses and organizations as well. They not only have a major effect on business and organizational continuity; they also result to an overhaul in organizational operational mechanisms (Awasthy, 2009). It is for this reason that many organizations and business resort to preparing business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans that will facilitate better disaster management in future. Effective disaster recovery plans are important to every business and organization (Thejendra, 2008).
Though the cost of mitigating risk can be high, the lack of proper business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning will leave a company is at risk of a catastrophic loss of revenue due to the loss of the Information Systems. Any company that relies on its Information Systems for their operations should invest the time and revenue in developing an efficient and effective Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). This study will compare the differences in what a Business Continuity Plan is used for and what a Disaster Recovery Plan is used for. Additionally, it will evaluate the risk having a Business Continuity Plan and Disaster
Disaster recovery is the process of an organisation uses to recover access the data, and also hardware that are needed to recollect the performance to be in normal position after a disaster occurs. While disaster recovery plans have to be focus in every aspect in any organisation and bringing the gap closure after destruction it can be like data, hardware, or software have been lost and the manpower that composes much of any organisation.
Disaster Recovery Planning is the critical factor that can prevent headaches or nightmares experienced by an organization in times of disaster. Having a disaster recovery plan marks the difference between organizations that can successfully manage crises with minimal cost, effort and with maximum speed, and those organizations that cannot. By having back-up plans, not only for equipment and network recovery, but also detailed disaster recovery plans that precisely outline what steps each person involved in recovery efforts should undertake, an organization can improve their recovery time and minimize the disrupted time for their normal business functions. Thus it is essential that disaster recovery plans are carefully laid
According to Francis (2014), many companies throughout the world are taking preemptive measures to back up data. However, many companies are still losing the very data in which they set out to protect. The main reason for this loss of data is that companies are not using the most efficient and greener mode of managing big internal data: cloud technology.