So, how much will a disaster really cost you?B There are many ways to approach this evaluation.
Letb s take the most likely scenario-a server crash.
If you canb t salvage your data (and your backup isnb t valid), losing your history could be deadly-or at least it will feel like it.B Can you imagine how much time it would take to handle the simplest of customer service issues with no history available to you?B Two, three-even 10 times as long as it would if you had all the information at your fingertips.
Now, take that extra time (just estimate it) and multiply it by how many issues you deal with in a day and the average hourly rate for the staff tasked with handling them.B Even for the smallest company, the cost would be devastating.B And, this is just for a computer crash.
What about the inevitable b circuit outageb ?B If the circuit is just down for a few minutes, people will grab an extra cup of coffee while the service is being restored and then get back to work.B But, what if the backhoe digging a trench down the street cuts the service to the whole area?B Believe me-it happens!B It could take days to restore service.B How would you work around it to minimize the lost revenue or productivity?
Preparing for the inevitable b disasterb involves considering all your possible points of failure.B Then, youb ll need to evaluate them for the potential cost to the organization.
You can never be 100% prepared for any unexpected event, but anticipating and determining in advance how you will do b damage controlb will get you close.
