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Business Security Lessons From the Earthquake Zone

Many commentators and experts have spoken about the recovery for medium to large businesses. This is all good advice, but how does it work when you are thinking about disaster-proofing a small business?

Right now Christchurch businesses are coping, with varying degrees of success, with injured staff, loss of premises, inability to access records loss of water and power and all the rest. Listening to a data system specialist on radio today, I learned that inability to get to servers and office computers, even laptops left on desks in collapsed buildings was a major problem for large businesses. These larger businesses are the ones we expect to have good back up systems. For many they have not worked. They are struggling.

I wondered about the many HBBs in Christchurch. How many of them have been forced to evacuate homes and relocate without the essential data to look after their customers. This may seem a low priority, but as I reflected on their future, the primacy of their income stream in rebuilding their future came to the fore.

I thought about the importance of keeping in touch with customers, and the way customers support a business experiencing temporary problems when disaster strikes.

How would we fare if an earthquake or volcanic eruption hit our small part of New Zealand? For the record we have operated a professional HBB for over 20 years.

I ran through a mental checklist. My answers to the situation after a disaster strikes may help you run your own reality check.

Q1: Where is our customer data stored?

A1: Paper files. Gone. Diaries. Probably lost. Off-site archives? You must be joking.

2 Apple laptops and an iMac desk computer. Probably gone.

Q2: Any backup?

A2: Yes. Hourly automatic backup of two computer hard disks to a 1 terabyte hard disk, Apple Time Machine, with full restore capability. It was inexpensive.

Q3: Where is it?

A3: In the same office. Probably gone. If we lose the house we lose the Time Machine.

Q4: Can the backup device go somewhere else? Somewhere safer?

A4: Yes, it's all wifi (Airport) capable. But what about power and weather protection? Where will it be safe and accessible after a disaster?

Q5: What about your email records?

A5: Several email addresses, with the really important stuff on NZ servers and unknown backup if we are dealing with a regional disaster. The others are on Gmail. I expect them to be safe with plenty of redundancy.

Q6: What about websites?

A6: Four to worry about. None are financially critical yet but they will be, and they are a big investment of irreplaceable time. They are on three different IP servers, 2 in New Zealand and one in the USA, but security is unknown. It is unlikely they will all go down in a single event. The backup and restore capability is good on the 3 that I run as long as the servers are intact.Conclusion

It's not looking too good, is it? Score 4/10 in a major disaster.

It seems that my strategy is "Cross fingers and hope."

Q7: Can it be improved?

A7: Yes, without a big investment, now I know where the vulnerable points are..

Q8: Will insurance help?

A8: Not really. The weak points are not financial, they are about the location of backup systems.

I hope this quick reality check prompts you to ask your own questions about the data security of your business. Remember, it's only worth the effort if you do something to reduce your risk.

If you can stay in touch with your customers, they will support you when things go wrong, and you will be able to recover your income quicker.

Michael Taplin has worked from home for over 20 years operating a boutique management consulting firm. He has a very practical view of what works and what fails when things go badly wrong. You can view more of his ideas on improving business performance at http://www.bizlearn.biz

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