Is Your Company Prepared for Data Recovery After a Natural Disaster?

From strong storms to tornadoes, statistics about natural disasters show that these events are happening more often and with greater strength. Just past midway through 2023, a total of 15 verified weather and climate disaster incidents in the United States have incurred damages surpassing $1 billion each, including flooding, severe storms, and a winter storm. In recent years, we have seen rising cases of wildfires, tropical cyclones, and hurricanes, with increased devastation in comparison to years past. From January 2013 to January 2023, 88.5% of U.S. counties experienced the declaration of a natural disaster, which included 95% of the 200 most densely populated counties.

Chances are, your county and your business have already been affected, and the likelihood of future natural disasters hitting your workplace continues to rise.

On-premise servers lower your opportunity for data recovery

When natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, and floods strike, businesses with on-premise servers can face severe consequences. These calamities can disrupt power supply, damage physical infrastructure, and render servers inoperable, leading to prolonged downtime. During hurricanes, high winds and flooding pose a significant threat to on-premise server facilities. Flooding can cause irreparable damage to servers and other hardware, while power outages might leave businesses unable to access critical data or applications. Similarly, wildfires can engulf server locations, resulting in physical destruction and data loss.

If your computing systems are relatively unaffected, but your workplace becomes insecure, your business could be vulnerable to server and equipment theft, which would further jeopardize valuable and sensitive data. Because so many challenges can occur simultaneously during and after a natural disaster, businesses often struggle to restore operations promptly, facing both financial losses and reputational damage.

The aftermath of natural disasters can continue to hinder data recovery efforts for on-premise servers. Destruction of local infrastructure and inaccessible facilities can delay technicians' ability to retrieve and restore data, leading to protracted downtime. The cost of repairing or replacing damaged hardware, coupled with the time needed to rebuild infrastructure, adds to the financial burden. Compounding these problems, the lack of remote access to data and applications in this scenario can make it difficult or impossible for employees to work effectively (or at all) during disaster recovery efforts.

When business continuity matters most, on-premise servers leave your data vulnerable to the devastating impacts of natural disasters. In contrast, the cloud can keep your business’ data safe when an on-premise server can’t.

A cloud-based ERP system is key to a data disaster recovery plan

A cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system plays a vital role in preventing physical destruction to your business' IT setup and data servers. Unlike on-premise servers that are vulnerable to natural disasters, accidents, or break-ins, a cloud-based ERP system stores valuable information in secure remote locations. This protects your business against events such as hurricanes, floods, or fires. By using a cloud-based ERP system, your business can proactively avoid IT damage and data loss before they occur, and without the complex plan that would be necessary with an on-premise infrastructure.

A cloud-based ERP system also simplifies and centralizes your data and systems recovery process after a natural disaster. If something unfortunate does happen, your business can quickly resume work using different internet-connected devices. Since all of your important data is stored securely in the cloud, even if the desktop computers in your workplace are damaged, and even if your entire workplace is in disarray, the data remains safe in other areas. This ensures business continuity – whether in your workplace or through working remotely – without the need for complex data recovery from damaged systems.

By adopting a cloud-based ERP solution to run your business, you can effectively defend against infrastructure damage, data loss, and the complications that follow, ultimately maintaining your operations with ease.

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