Firms warned not to ignore disaster recovery

The need for firms to establish business continuity plans is greater than ever, according to one expert.

Writing for Processor.com, John Brandon said many firms make the mistake of overlooking disaster recovery planning in the reality of day-to-day business.

Some companies may even view business continuity measures as "an expensive and complex endeavour", he suggested - potentially highlighting the benefits of shared hosting.

Mr Brandon added that, despite the growing use of cloud and hosted solutions which offer off-site back-up services, firms should have some form of a plan in place to help them respond to unforeseen circumstances.

He said that this will always be a complex process involving not just recovery and prevention, but security, government compliance and business process.

"It is one that starts with a simple offsite storage practice, and continues into the realm of cloud services and email alerts on server cabinets. The one constant: Plans should evolve apace with the technology changes," Mr Brandon stated.

Small business commentator Jennifer Walzer recently told the New York Times that planning in this area is vitally important for firms of all sizes.

Written by Tim Dunton