The holiday season is one of the happiest times of the year—and also one of the most hectic for many businesses. Preparing for extra PTO, keeping up with the increase in demand, and protecting IT systems from increased cyber threats can all be a handful.
Today’s post is designed to help you check one of those things off your list. From professional disaster recovery services to cold weather preparations, here’s a look at what you can do to make sure your DRP is ready for the holidays.
What Is a DRP?
A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a comprehensive strategy designed to minimize the impact of incidents, such as cyber attacks, natural disasters, or hardware failures, on an organization’s technological systems.
It includes specific procedures and steps that should be taken in the event of a disaster to retrieve data, preserve infrastructure, reduce losses, and restore operations. With professional disaster recovery services, businesses can implement advanced measures and create personalized plans to prepare their systems for a quick resolution.
Why Does It Matter During the Holidays?
During the holidays, businesses tend to be short staffed or closed completely. Employees who are working may also be more distracted and less careful, working on auto-pilot, floating in mental vacation mode. Cyber criminals take advantage of these gaps to launch more attacks, such as phishing or ransomware ploys.
Traffic can also increase during the holiday season, and extreme weather can have a detrimental effect on hardware. Because of all of these factors, organizations are much more likely to experience some form of cyber incident over the holiday season, making it crucial to take advantage of disaster recovery services and have response procedures in place.
How Can I Prepare My DRP for the Holidays?
These tips will help you make sure your DRP is ready to keep your systems and data secure during the holiday craze.
Hire an MSP
One of the best ways to ensure your DRP will be effective through the holidays is to partner with a managed service provider (MSP) that offers disaster recovery services. IT specialists can help you hammer out the details of your plan, offer industry insights, and provide access to advanced tools to strengthen both your protection and recovery procedures.
Double Check Monitoring
If you have network or other monitoring systems set up, confirm that they’re scanning and reporting correctly before heading on vacation. If you haven’t invested in monitoring services yet, this is a good time to get started. This way, you can be alerted of suspicious activity, which may otherwise go unnoticed until you’re back in the office, at which point they’ll have escalated.
Review Procedures with the Team
Before you get into the thick of the holiday rush and PTO, hold a quick training to make sure your team is aware of the DRP and how to react to a variety of incidents. Teach them how to secure their computers and accounts while they’re out, and confirm how information about any disasters will be communicated.
Test & Update Your Plan
Frequent testing is a key part of disaster recovery, and the holidays are a good time to run a couple of drills. Be sure all of the response systems and mechanisms are working correctly and confirm that team members know their roles. Make any necessary adjustments to your plans before closing up shop for the holidays.
Anticipate Increased Traffic
If you work in e-commerce or other industries where business picks up around the holidays, ensure your systems are ready to take on the extra traffic. Make necessary adjustments to your network and have a plan for what to do if your site shuts down due to overload, including what steps you’ll take to get back online, how you’ll inform and compensate customers, etc.
Be Weather Ready
Severe snow, ice, and wind or extremely low temperatures can disrupt power and communication services, so make sure your DRP includes preparations for extreme weather conditions. This can include measures like having backup generators or alternative forms of communication in place.
How Can AIS’s Disaster Recovery Services Help?
With AIS’s disaster recovery services, your organization will be safe, secure, and prepared to face IT incidents seamlessly. When you partner with us, you can enjoy:
- Advanced monitoring, threat detection, and response services
- Comprehensive and proactive cybersecurity solutions designed to prevent accidents before they happen
- Strategic data storage, protection, and backup
- Expert insights tailored to the industry and your business
- A team that’s “All In to Serve” at any moment
Be Ready for Anything This Season with AIS
Your holidays should be spent enjoying a peaceful, relaxing time with your loved ones—and not scrambling to resolve a tech disaster at work or constantly worrying while you’re away. So take a little time now to double-check your DRP with AIS. You’ll rest easier knowing you’re ready to resolve issues and recover quickly.
Send us a message to learn more about how our disaster recovery services can help you make it safely through the holidays.