The Best Data-Driven Strategies to Avoid an IT Disaster
IT disasters are the stuff of nightmares—and not just during Halloween. Imagine your critical data vanishing into thin air or an entire system going down while your employees watch helplessly. It’s more frightening than any horror movie plot because it’s real, and it’s your business on the line.
We’re no longer dealing with the simple worms and viruses of the past; today’s cyber threats are as sophisticated as ever, and technology is expanding at a breakneck pace. Avoiding an IT disaster that leaves your business in ruins takes more than just a firewall and a crossed-fingers approach. You need solid plans, the right tools, and a bit of strategy to keep your systems resilient.
We've all heard about one IT disaster or another—the Rogers outage of 2022, for instance, which had businesses across Canada scrambling. But not every IT disaster makes the headlines. Some lurk beneath the surface, smaller in scale but with a massive impact on productivity, morale, and trust.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through what IT disasters are, how to avoid them, and the key steps to keeping your business safe from the monsters lurking in the shadows.
What Classifies as an IT Disaster?
An IT disaster is a sudden incident that causes significant damage or loss of data. It is important to note these attacks can come in multiple forms, making it challenging to calculate the overall impact on businesses globally and locally.
As a benchmark, Statista reported there were 6.06 billion malware attacks in 2023. Here are some other common occurrences that can cause IT disasters:
- Human Error: Think accidental deletion, misconfigurations, and unauthorized access.
- Hardware Failure: Hard drive crashes, power surges, and good old equipment failure all play a role here.
- Software Corruption: Watch out for compatibility problems, malware, and software bugs.
- Natural Disasters: Floods, fires, and extreme temperatures all cause harmful effects on hardware and, by extension, data.
- Cybersecurity Breaches: In addition to ransomware and data breaches, physical theft can also be a cybersecurity problem.
IT Disaster Risks
While there are plenty of ways an IT disaster can happen, the risks and damage all fall within similar categories. First off, your business grinds to a halt. Productivity? Gone. And honestly, who knows for how long? Morale? Rock bottom.
Employees will feel like you didn’t care enough to invest in the tools to prevent it. On the external side of things, stakeholder trust is shot. Your reputation isn’t even non-existent; it’s buried six feet deep.
Costs of IT Disasters
Beyond the colossal damage to your business, IT disasters notoriously impact your bottom line. IBM Security’s 2020 Cost of a Data Breach report found that, on average, it costs businesses around $3.86 million to deal with this type of IT issue.
Keep in mind that, depending on the type of disaster, you might have to pay for more than just fixing it (think paying the ransom so you can get your systems back first). Plus, rebuilding your operations to avoid problems like this might not be feasible, considering the repercussive damage to your reputation.
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5 Steps to Follow to Avoid an IT Disaster
No doubt, there’s a lot of negativity surrounding an IT disaster. That makes avoiding one all the more valuable. Here are five essential steps to consider to prevent it from happening:
1. Conduct a Data Assessment
In order to protect your data, you need to know what it looks like. Examine your systems inside and out, including determining potential threats. Think outdated software or decades-old hardware. Once you have a better idea of what you need to protect, you can accurately know how to protect it. With a reliable jumping-off point, you can create a backup and recovery plan.
2. Create a Backup
Now, we aren’t just talking about any backup. This needs to be secure in the cloud, with encrypted data and multiple copies. The more robust your backup is, the better equipped you’ll be if you need to use it. Consider that the global cloud backup market revenue is projected to reach USD $190.5 billion in 2024, up from USD $21.7 billion in 2017. This exponential trend shows businesses are taking backups more seriously and likely committing to regular backup schedules to ensure data is consistently protected and resources are up to date.
3. Develop a Disaster Recovery Plan
While creating a backup is crucial, just how will you implement it if the time comes? Disaster recovery planning outlines exactly what you’re business will do in the event of… you guessed it, a disaster. Beyond your data backup and recovery strategies, implementing failover systems can be increasingly beneficial.
4. Outline a Business Continuity Plan
With disaster recovery sorted, you’ll need to identify how your operations will continue to function during an IT disaster. IBM Security’s 2020 Cost of a Data Breach report noted that business continuity management is a key factor in mitigating the cost of a data breach.
It’s common for some elements of this plan to overlap with the previous step. However, business continuity includes the essential operational functions you’ll carry out, a communication plan for employees and stakeholders, and outlines the alternate processes you’ll use.
5. Train Employees
Take the time to share valuable information about disaster recovery protocols and business continuity plans with your employees. They should know who to report to in case of an IT disaster and how they can prevent one from happening themselves. It’s worth investing in regular training to keep employees up-to-date on best practices, whether that’s implementing secure passwords or identifying phishing attempts. This is especially true when you consider employee training was another factor in reducing the cost of a data breach, according to IBM Security’s 2020 report.
Make Data Protection a Priority
It’s easy to say that something won’t happen to your business just because it hasn’t happened yet. But as mentioned, technology is ever-changing, with AI-driven cyberattacks and cloud vulnerabilities at the tip of the iceberg for new IT risks. Backups, disaster recovery, and business continuity plans are like insurance; even if you don’t need to use it, there’s peace of mind in knowing it’s there and safety and security if you do.
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