How Does VoIP Relate to Disaster Recovery?

how does voip relate to disaster recovery

If you’ve never considered a cloud-based VoIP phone service, you’re missing out on advantages you probably never thought about before. Using on-premise phone systems might be something you’ve used for so long that you’ve become accustomed to the headaches they can cause.

But you shouldn’t be afraid of switching to a cloud-based VoIP system thanks to ease of setup and use. Because everything is internal, you’ll be saving yourself plenty of office space. You’ll also save money and time in various ways.

No More Focus on Phone Equipment and Maintenance

You may have years of bad memories taking care of your on-site phone systems when things went wrong. Likely, you can add the budget element and the wasting of time taking care of equipment that isn’t the focus of your business.

With a cloud-based VoIP system, everything is online and maintained by your provider so you don’t have to worry about taking care of a problem. This allows you to focus valuable time on your business and not on fixing technology that should already work efficiently.

The same applies to upgrades when you need them. You can eliminate the panic of needing to spend extra money to upgrade hardware.

The Mobility Factor

Thanks to being in the cloud, you can make your business as mobile as you want. Anywhere there’s an Internet connection, you can tap into your VoIP system and use it as your business phone line.

Being mobile is an essential part of business today when the need to travel is frequently necessary. At one time, routing calls from analog phones was very complicated if not impossible. Now you can be at a business meeting anywhere and be able to read messages and take or make phone calls in an instant.

This helps connect to another aspect many people don’t consider with cloud-based VoIP technology.

So How Does this Relate to Disaster Recovery?

The cloud has become a real game-changer in the realm of disaster recovery thanks to the capability of business data being stored there. What happens, though, when your physical business becomes destroyed during a natural disaster? Imagine your on-site phone systems being wiped out and being unable to make calls to customers to keep continuity going.

With cloud-based VoIP, your phone system is already online and ready to use immediately to help get back on your feet. As long as you have a recovery center somewhere and Internet service for business continuity, your phone system is there and ready to use.

Far too many customers have abandoned businesses during disasters due to business lines going down. You no longer have to worry about the dreaded fast busy signal.

After all, customers calling from other states won’t always understand why your lines are down and expect your phones to still be workable. Now you can prove to them that you thought things out technologically to help place them first.

Consider us here at 4 Corner IT for your cloud-based VoIP. We’re an established IT team with 14 years of experience in making sure the technology we offer is truly right for every business.

Contact us so we can analyze your business structure to see if cloud-based VoIP is the right choice for you.

How Often is Backup and Disaster Recovery Active?

how often is backup and disaster recovery active
Natural Disasters

When companies purchases a disaster recovery plan, how often do they put the service in use? Although this may seem like an odd or misplaced question, it’s one that businesses often ask themselves before purchasing a service.

The seemingly right answer is that DR is only active when actually restoring information. Businesses then have a hard time justifying the service, since they think their money could be better used for a service that they could use more frequently.

The first problem with this thought process is that it’s completely false. Disaster recovery doesn’t just deal with data recovery but also with data backup. And any good disaster recovery plan will have enough scheduled backups to ensure that in case anything happens, the company wouldn’t lose too much data that was produced during the period between the last backup and the recovery.

According to a recent Cloud Tweaks article, disaster recovery may not be continuously active, but it is active frequently throughout the week:

“One popular misconception about DR in general is that it only becomes active during a recovery. But this is only the case for enterprises that view DR as an afterthought. A properly managed DR infrastructure incorporates a wide variety of daily, weekly, monthly and semi-annual procedures involving backup, replication, system maintenance, integration with primary infrastructure and so on. As well recovery drills and mock scenarios should have a place in every DR program.”

Companies should schedule their data backups to happen either weekly or daily in order to protect their information. This explains why disaster recovery is active more than inexperienced users would think.

In addition, the idea of disaster recovery isn’t to let the user know when it’s active. Simple notifications are appreciated, but mostly, managers just want to set up their data backup schedule and forget about it altogether. If the service is reliable, then when they need to access it, it will be ready at a moment’s notice.

If you would like more information about disaster recovery, contact us.

Choosing the Right Backup and Disaster Recovery Service

choosing the right backup and disaster recovery service for your business needs

Backup and disaster recovery planning is essential for ensuring that businesses can still operate after significant disruptions like blackouts, storms or other problems.

Without proper preparation, millions of dollars can be lost and loads of headaches while attempting recovery. Business continuity plans are often drawn up as a precaution, which work as a road map to businesses for responding to different types of issues.

Identifying important assets like corporate data, manufacturing facilities and technology infrastructure is a vital first step. Next is figuring out how these important assets will be protected in the event of downtime.

Importance of Backing up Data Offsite

Businesses should have their data backed up offsite and have access to it anytime for recovery. The perfect way to do this is to have online backup where the business can back their data up each night and store it away from their business location.

Using Online Recovery Services

Online cloud platforms are perfect for providing backup and disaster recovery. There is only a small share of resources needed by the cloud-based disaster recovery service under normal operating conditions to synchronize state from the business location to the cloud. In most cases, the entire amount of resources needed for running the application only needs to be paid for in the event of an actual disaster.

Using automated online services for disaster recovery means that extra resources can be brought online quickly when there is actual detection of a disaster. This reduces recovery time dramatically after a disaster which is fundamental to business continuity.

How to Choose Backup and Recovery Services

When looking for back up and disaster recovery services, its best to look for one that offers solutions that will copy your server environment to the data center, the Cloud or move your phone systems and servers to the Cloud without losing continuity or functionality.

There is no telling when disaster can strike, and being prepared is key. Your business needs will govern which cloud back up and disaster recovery service you go with. If your company has critical applications that need to be available immediately following downtime, a cloud-based disaster recovery service is what is needed.

For more information on the right backup and recovery options for your business, please contact us.

Also, check out our cabling services!

Why Cloud Storage Isn’t Enough for Disaster Recovery

why cloud storage isn t enough for disaster recovery
cloud servers.

Signing up for a cloud storage service provider means you’re on the right track for disaster recovery planning. The next step is to avoid being like one of the many businesses that think that using cloud storage by itself is an adequate disaster recovery plan.

Although backing up your data on the cloud is an important step of disaster recovery, there are several other aspects to the planning, such as communication, employee assignments, and so on.

A recent Cloud Tweaks article discusses this common pitfall and explains why it can be so damaging to businesses. According to the article, there are several important aspects to disaster recovery planning, and cloud storage can really only be effective if all the other pieces of the puzzle are in place:

“Just assessing your technology environment is not enough. A comprehensive assessment should look at your organization from three distinct points of view: your technology team, the business leaders IT serves and the finance executives who have to agree to pay for it all. The true potential of cloud technology can only be realized by tightly aligning technology with business objectives.”

If a business purchases a cloud storage service plan to make all of their business continuity problems go away, they’re going to be in for a rough surprise when disaster strikes. Data loss is only one of the many harsh implications that stems from a disaster, and therefore data recovery on its own isn’t enough to fully restore business operations.

Businesses should plan and discuss a thorough disaster recovery plan for when the time comes. This includes how the business will be able to communicate with clients and customers, what the role of each employee will be, and how the business will restore it’s data.

This plan is crucial for business continuity and it is often complex. Business with no experience in the subject should considering outsourcing their IT services so as to not jeopardize their future business continuity.

If you would like more information about backup and disaster recovery, contact us.

Backup and Disaster Recovery: Security of Your Business

backup and disaster recovery essential to the security of your business

Every business knows the importance of backup and disaster recovery. But what do they really do to prepare for the event of a possible disaster or shutdown of their business?

Will files be safe from theft and damage in such a situation? How will you protect your customers from compromising their vital information? Here are a few ways you can keep information safe in the event of a disaster:

Have an Emergency Disaster Plan

 This is the most obvious thing that needs to be done and to have in place, to prepare for a possible disaster. But amazingly, it is a detail many SMB businesses leave out. While they may have a general idea as to what they will do in the event of a disaster, they have no specific plan for recovery and backup that will be sufficient to retrieve vital information in the event of a shutdown or disaster.

Consider Cloud Storage for Secure Backups

 One of the best things you can do is to store critical data on a server that can not be infiltrated by hackers or damaged in the physical world. By employing the use of cloud storage devices and drives, your data will be safe, even if the physical building in which your business resides is damaged or destroyed.

Designate Specific People for Certain Recovery Jobs

 By planning ahead for possible problems, and designating specific staff members for specific tasks, you can rest assured that people will know what to do in the event a crisis occurs. Just as people have a plan in place for their homes in the event of a fire or earthquake, there should be a similar plan in place for businesses in the event of such a disaster.

Consider Down Time and Plan Accordingly

 While you do not know how much down time will occur in the event of a shutdown of your business, it is important to consider the amount of manpower and money that will be lost or wasted due to the down time of your business during this critical time. Have a financial reserve in place to accommodate this, in case this occurs.

Get Advice from Experts

 The best way to make sure that you have what you need in place is to solicit the help of security experts who deal with backup and disaster recovery on a regular basis. They can help you put a disaster recovery plan in place, so that you will know your data and your business will be secure, in the event of a disaster.

In the end, what you should do is to assess. Assess the potential for a disaster in your area.

  • Do you live in a hurricane area?
  • Do earthquakes occur often in your location?
  • Are there risks in your specific corner of the world that put your business at risk?

There is risk enough in the world no matter where you are. But it is important to assess your particular risk and then decide what steps you should take to keep your business safe.

For more information on how we can help you achieve this, contact us.