Alex Walters
Recently, a historic snowstorm hit in the south affecting millions of people throughout Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Texas. Areas not usually accustomed to elements associated with snowstorms including freezing temperatures, snow and ice were devastated by the affects. An article by, The New York Times titled, “Texas Winter Snowstorm: What to Know”, detailed the aftermath of the storm. As many as 4 million people were left without electricity. (Bogel -Burroughs, Nicholas, et al) There was also a water shortage that affected people in up to 254 Texas counties. Power plants responsible for producing natural gas in Texas were shut down because pipelines were either frozen or burst. (Bogel -Burroughs, Nicholas, et al) There were also power grid and water treatment failures. Many homes and businesses were flooded. Hospitals, food storages and other essential organizations were affected because they did not have the resources needed for normal functioning which resulted in dangerous conditions for millions of people. (Bogel -Burroughs, Nicholas, et al)
Natural disasters, such as the snowstorms that affected the south, are unfortunately a part of life as we know it. People cannot prevent these acts from occurring. However, people can make sure they are prepared and equipped with the correct resources before such an incident occurs. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning are the processes and procedures that are used to ensure that operations continue during and after some form of disaster. Disaster Recovery specifically is the section of the Business Continuity Plan that evaluates how to protect the IT systems used in an organization.
Business Continuity and Disaster Planning is an important part of a successful organization. However, you would be surprised how many companies do not have any plan at all. Alliance Technology Partners released an article titled, “4 Bad Things That Can Happen When You Don’t Have a Disaster Recovery Plan”. In the article, Tech radar online indicates that around two out of every five businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan. (“4 Consequences That Can Happen When You Don’t Have a Disaster Recovery Plan.”) Without a Disaster Recovery Plan, organizations are taking huge risks. These risks include complete data loss, system failures, loss of resources, employees, and revenue. (“4 Consequences That Can Happen When You Don’t Have a Disaster Recovery Plan.”) Staff is lost when organizations must downgrade because they are spending money trying to reconstruct the company. Clients leave and find other companies when organizations are no longer able to serve them due to loss of data and resources. Restoring data and property that has been lost takes many years and is very expensive. Tracy Rock’s article, “23 Disaster Recovery Statistics You Should Know’, provides recent disaster recovery statistics. According to the article, “43% of companies that experience a major data loss event go out of business if they don’t have any recovery planning in place” (Rock, Tracy). Another static states, “93% of companies went bankrupt after prolonged data loss” (Rock, Tracy).
If you know your company does not have an adequate plan it is imperative that you get one now! EC – Council offers an official EDRP certification course that can help. This Disaster Recovery Professional certification course will help you identify the key components of your organization’s disaster plan. These components include strategy, organization, applications, data, processes, technology, facilities, and people. (“Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery”) The EDRP certification course will also take you through the steps of creating a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan for your organization where you will learn about Risk Assessment, Business Impact (BIA), Business Continuity Planning (BCP), Data Backup, Recovery Strategies, and Testing and maintenance. After taking this course, you can register to take the Disaster Recovery Professional Exam. Professionals seeking their EDRP must be at least 18 years of age or have written consent from their legal guardian and supporting documentation from their institution of higher education. (“Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery’) The exam is 4 hours long and consists of 150 questions.
Phoenix TS has partnered with EC -Council to bring you this EDRP training and certification. After completing the course and earing your certification, you will possess the knowledge and skills needed to identify the risks your organization can potentially face in the event of a disaster. You will also be able to implement the plan into your organization and develop a testing schedule that allows you to recognize flaws in your plan and correct them before they happen.
Earning is EDRP is well worth it. Visit Phoenix TS or call 301 -258 -8200 today to enroll and secure the future of your organization now.
Sources:
“4 Benefits of Disaster Recovery Planning .” Evolve IP, 16 July 2018, www.evolveip.net/blog/4-benefits-disaster-recovery-planning.
“4 Consequences That Can Happen When You Dont Have a Disaster Recovery Plan.” Alliance Technology Partners, www.alliancetechpartners.com/4-bad-things-can-happen-dont-disaster-recovery-plan/#:~:text=The%20loss%20of%20data%20triggers,businesses%20are%20unable%20to%20recover.&text=Any%20moment%20you%20are%20not%20working%2C%20you%20are%20losing%20money.&text=Downtime%20is%20money%20lost.,to%20resume%20business%20as%20usual.
Bogel -Burroughs, Nicholas, et al. “Texas Winter Storm: What to Know.” The New York Times , The New York Times Company, 20 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/texas-winter-storm-explainer.html.
“Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery.” EC -Council, www.eccouncil.org/programs/business-continuity-and-disaster-recovery-training/.
Rock, Tracy. “23 Disaster Recovery Statistics You Should Know.” Invenio IT, 1 July 2020, invenioit.com/continuity/disaster-recovery-statistics/.