Anyone who uses a computer on a regular basis knows that problems can happen at any time without warning. Internal components can fail through age or extensive use. Viruses can attack operating systems and destroy data, rendering them difficult or even impossible to use. And that's just for a single computer. Now imagine the risks that data centers face on a daily basis.
For a data center, an unexpected event—such as a major electrical problem, a storm or a failure of the precision cooling system—could not only lead to costly damage but also result in service interruption and catastrophic data loss. Certain events can be predicted more easily than others, but many are completely unpredictable and require precautions.
"The first rule is to … plan for as much as possible," Clive Longbottom, co-founder and service director of U.K.-based research and analysis company Quocirca told Tech Target. "Create business continuity and recovery plans that match with the business' priorities—and then test them."
As the news source notes, data centers need contingency plans that do not necessarily rely on technology—since it might be affected by a large enough disaster. Instead, it is important to develop and test manual processes that can be executed in the event of a very serious event.
Unfortunately, the news source adds that, for many businesses, major contingency plans are woefully uncommon and those that exist are often inadequate. This is partly due to businesses simply not understanding what their data centers need in terms of business impact analysis and disaster recovery planning.
That's why it is important to invest in data center services that not only protect hardware from major problems but also provide business impact analysis so solid contingency plans can be developed for when things go wrong. This will help ensure that critical services remain available and valuable data is protected.
