March 29, 2016

As an information technology consulting firm, we’re sometimes surprised when our clients ask us about the value and necessity of disaster recovery tests for their IT systems and networks. After all, schools hold fire and tornado drills, theater companies present dress rehearsals of theatrical works, and mechanics take automobiles for test drives. All of these activities are done for relatively the same purpose – to work out “bugs” and errors in systems and to ensure the smooth performance of expected activities when they are needed.

Disaster recovery tests are simply the wisest proactive step a business can take in its business continuity management plan, whether those tests are physical, virtual, or both. Admittedly, successful DR testing calls for much coordination, senior management support, prep & planning, and strong documentation – Altus’ Elemental DR test tracking tool can be of great assistance here.

Three strong reasons to make Disaster Recovery tests part of your IT operations model include:

  • New employees, even those outside of the IT department, who may live close to the premises, need to be briefed on their company’s disaster recovery protocols. Do you really want a newbie’s first dry run keeping the company operational to happen during an actual emergency?
  • Technology continues to evolve at viral rates of speed. The performance requirements of new tech need to be figured-in to DR plans regularly.
  • “Practice makes perfect.” Your business continuity plan can evolve and become more efficient as it is tested out. Practice + Anticipation = Innovation.

Considering the vast amount of information your servers contain and the many important operations your IT networks and applications manage, IT disaster recovery tests on an annual basis are just a common-sense best practice in the 21st century Digital Age. Won’t you allow us to help you with your business continuity management?

Contact Us today to get more information or to get started with an Altus data center consultant. Learn more about our other data center services as well – we provide data center disaster avoidance strategies as well as disaster recovery testing for data centers.