Likelihood: Plausible
Disaster recovery in IT is always one of those last minute things that never really gets enough attention. That is until it is to late and you are in the middle of a disaster. So why is this the case? Why do we constantly ignore the very real threat that “disasters” pose to our lives and in particular businesses.
Part of the reason I think that DR doesn’t get much traction is because of the way the IT community tries to sell the idea. For some reason when technicians try to sell Disaster Recovery they seem to come up with the worst possible thing that could ever happen.
Given that the impression seams to be that IT is always super expensive and trying to drive home a fear driven possibility for a unrealistic idea I can understand why DR doesn’t get the attention that it deserves.
So with all that in mind I though I would run through a few “real world” disasters and some loose numbers that it might cost a business or individual so that Disaster recovery might be better understood.
For these scenarios I will work on a business called Quirky Imports who have 15 staff who work 40 hours per week at an average wage of $25 per hour.
Quirky Imports has 5 sales people who rely on phones, emails and websites for pricing, 4 managers who look after different parts of the organisation, 3 admin staff who answer calls, check emails, process invoices and payments and orders stock in from suppliers and 3 dispatch / warehouse staff who dispatch orders.
Quirky Imports relies on the internet for processing of EFTPOS payments and placing orders for parts. Items are dispatched via courier and are booked online for pickup and Quirky Imports does about $10 000 in sales per day.
Over the next few posts I will cover possible real world disasters and possible suitable solutions that would minimise the impact of such disasters.