Rating how data loss affects a business can be more important than some realise

Many execs may not be familiar with data loss projections and how these will truly impact their day-to-day operations, but it is an important thing to consider. When these data loss problems have a direct result on timely delivery to customers or even timely delivery to the company’s warehouse, it can affect a company’s performance and productivity. Why has the supply chain grown into such a risk for many businesses who may struggle to make it from start-up to establish? Gone are the days when UK companies largely exported more finished goods than they imported. With a reliance on outsourced companies to make those same finished goods today or at least deliver the materials need, it can pose a challenge to UK companies who are fighting to more than balance their bottom-line cost with demand.

Disruptions can hurt a company and keep it from being productive or profitable among its competitors. In a 2010 IBM report on UK email downtime, hardware failures, lost connections, and database corruption caused businesses to lose their ability to be profitable in the area of supply chain and demand.

Take time to locate the source that may cause a data loss Risk

Some companies may be concerned with only finding the greatest data loss risk, but  executives need to be aware about all key data loss risks equally.  Why be concerned about a factor that any cause data loss, but is not a main key factor for data loss?  Those factors that are not main key factors can be major headaches for companies that do not keep a close enough watch on business’s operations.

A Business Impact Analysis needs to be completed and  included in a data loss disaster recovery program because it is essential for helping a company’s IT professionals or execs determine their potential problems, probable costs, and what levels of protection are needed to  help the company operations continue smoothly. Does your company need maximum protection? Depending on the nature of the business, some companies may need heavy protection so that there are very few interruptions in their business operations. Other business execs may determine the company can operate with minimum protection needed.

Here are key factors to consider when developing a BIA:

• Time needed to recover data from a previous state
• Financial value of critical business processes
• Minimal number of staff needed to conduct business operations
• Dependencies on internal and external organisations
• Data requirements
• Technology needs to operate efficiently (minimum and maximum needs)

Knowing this information can help an executive and IT professional increase profitability and effectively develop a plan to avoid data losses that could cripple operations.  Unexpected data recovery costs may cost executives the ability to execute their plans well and rise above their competitors.