4 Major Causes of Downtime for Small Businesses and How to Avoid Them

Have you ever had a computer system crash in your small business network, lost important files for your clients or your company’s financial records?   

Even worse, what would happen if your computer network was inaccessible for days-even weeks?  Is your small business prepared in case disaster strikes?    

We all know that disasters can happen at the most inconvenient times for small businesses. That is why it is so important to have a disaster recovery plan in place for your company.   

Take a look at the Infographic below (courtesy of SingleHop.com) displaying the 9 major causes of downtime for small businesses:

Disaster Recovery Infographic

 

How to Minimize Downtime for Your Business

If your business is not currently prepared when disaster strikes, here are 3 things that you should have in place to make sure your business could be back up and running again:

1.  Implement a Disaster Recovery Plan.  A disaster recovery plan is a document that details what you will do in case a catastrophic failure or event takes place in your small business.  Here is a link to a small business guide and disaster recovery plan created by the New York Times.

2.  Perform a risk assessment and regular tests of important systems in your computer network.  These systems include your backup systems, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies) and network Server.

3.  Perform routine maintenance on your computer systems.  Keep your computer systems and Server up-to-date with the latest security patches, make sure that your anti-virus definitions are current and run monthly virus and malware scans to check for viruses and malware.

For additional tips on how to prepare your small business for a disaster, please download the following Emergency Planning Checklist.

If you enjoyed this blog post, I would love for you to share with others on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Thanks!

Annika Bansal
 

Annika "The Chick Geek" is the founder of AnnikaBansal.com. Small Business Sense shares small business ideas, tips and resources for independent Entrepreneurs and Small Business owners.

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 0 comments

Leave a Reply: