By: Ron Carter, Network Consultant

I have had many discussions over the years concerning the cost of lost data and what impact it has on the business operations of a company. And the answer is normally we have no idea!, but we want to know.

For each company or organization it is different due to the prevention's or lack of prevention's that have been put in place for disaster recovery.

Many companies have ineffective or non-existent procedures in place regarding the backup and recovery of the companies intellectual properties. These companies have either made a conscious effort or have no idea what the results could be by not backing up their data on a regularly scheduled basis. The loses they could endure could mean a great financial loss to get back up and running or a complete loss of their business.

Companies that have put procedures in place and adhere to them normally can be backup and running in just a few hours and their data losses are normally what was entered since the last backup. These companies may not know the full costs in the lost of data, but they have taken solid steps to prevent a major loss of data that is the lifeline of their business.

We normally think of major events like fire, water, storms, lighting, tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes when we consider loss of operations, but we must also consider hackers, disgruntled employees, power failures and hardware failures.

I have received a ROI worksheet from APC that is used to calculate the value of lost data I feel this worksheet is a great tool for reviewing and planning operational procedures.

CNI can assist you in determining the best backup and recovery solutions for your company, please give us a call at (513) 312-8381.