Hurricane Preparedness Week 5/23 - 5/29 Draws Attention to Projected "Above Average" 2010 Weather Systems
Woburn, Mass., May 27, 2010 -Some leading weather experts predict an "above average" year for hurricanes, with up to 15 named storms and early conditions similar to those experienced in 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina. Preparing for natural or manmade disasters can spell success or failure for businesses. Acronis offers business owners the following tips to ensure business-critical company data weathers the storms of the 2010 Hurricane Season:
- Design the drill - The time for developing a comprehensive disaster recovery plan is before any storms hit land. But it is equally important to keep that plan current. For example, in just the five years since Hurricane Katrina, storage technology has evolved from tape backup to more advanced disk imaging technology and the emergence of cloud-based services. While all three approaches can get a company operational again in the face of a natural disaster, the newer technologies - particularly in a hybrid approach - translate into doing it faster, better and cheaper. With today's expectations of technology "always on," companies that can normalize their operations the fastest have a greater opportunity to keep customer satisfaction high and business performance optimized.
- Know the drill - Plans shouldn't simply gather dust on the bookshelf. Employees need to embrace the plan and understand their role in its success. Best practices should always be in play: whether it is the expectation that employees perform a local backup before they leave for the day or a rule that IT administrators back up digital assets onsite or via the cloud on a more frequent, scheduled basis, and increasingly, without having to take the server offline. For example, disk image backup is more than just protecting data files; it includes print settings, applications and more that enable users to restore to their pre-disaster capabilities quickly and easily. Good backup habits under normal conditions bode well for emergency situations.
- Do the drill - For maximum effectiveness, the disaster recovery plan must be well-rehearsed. There is a reason that civil emergency teams regularly hold mock disaster drills - they want their plans to kick into automatic high gear when disaster strikes, rather than lose precious time and resources interpreting directions and reviewing assignments. Prepared companies run mock disaster drills designed to protect not only people and place but also data. With the convergence of physical and virtual environments, these mock drills can help companies identify any shortfalls in their current disaster recovery plan or plans, and make adjustments to improve their recovery efforts before disaster happens.
About Acronis:
Acronis is a global cyber protection company that provides natively integrated cybersecurity, data protection, and endpoint management for managed service providers (MSPs), small and medium businesses (SMBs), and enterprise IT departments. Acronis solutions are highly efficient and designed to identify, prevent, detect, respond, remediate, and recover from modern cyberthreats with minimal downtime, ensuring data integrity and business continuity. Acronis offers the most comprehensive security solution on the market for MSPs with its unique ability to meet the needs of diverse and distributed IT environments.
A Swiss company founded in Singapore in 2003, Acronis has 15 offices worldwide and employees in 50+ countries. Acronis Cyber Protect is available in 26 languages in 150 countries and is used by over 20,000 service providers to protect over 750,000 businesses. Learn more at www.acronis.com.