Data loss statistics for small businesses vary, but are always disappointing. Studies have shown that more than 40% of companies around the world, when faced with a major data loss, shut down permanently. And more than 90% of organizations where the data center was down for more than 10 consecutive days went bankrupt within a year.
Clearly, it is not a good idea to try to transfer the experience of large corporations to the practices of small businesses: it is difficult for them to determine acceptable downtime from the assumption of acceptable losses. The management of small companies will not organize reserve personnel or plan their actions in the event of a building collapse, following the example of large businesses. Intuitively, the most accessible and important thing is highlighted, which is exactly the recovery of data – DR.
From the VSM perspective, data is an exceptional asset, and it is its continuity that allows organizations to continue their operations. Thus, data recovery is essential to identifying any organization after a disruptive impact. In fact, small businesses perceive data recovery as a surrogate for business continuity, although for business processes, equipment and personnel management, continuity is substantially more maintenance. It is also worth noting that it is important to understand the significance of time factors for the resumption of work processes and clearly prioritize tasks, that is, to subordinate the entire process to the logic of the WSM.
To ensure the continuity of small business, it is necessary to answer these questions:
- What do we need to recover first to stay in business?
- What do our customers need to have confidence in our stability?
- What do our partners need in order to safely continue to fulfill our orders?
- What do our suppliers insist on in order not to interrupt business with us?
The main task is to organize DR according to the logic of the formation of RTO norms, i.e. to formulate the value of RTO for the business as a whole and RPO values for each block of IT functions, which are acceptable for the business. Based on the values of RTO and RPO and should be formed Service Level Agreement, SLA.
It should be understood that the Service Level Agreement (SLA) that is drafted sets the requirements for the IT infrastructure and competence of the performer. This means that you must have a data recovery infrastructure adequate to the business objectives. Ill-constructed infrastructure can bring unnecessary costs. It is unacceptable for a Service Level Agreement to be formulated without reference to business objectives. Thus, small business management faces the challenge of ensuring that the IT infrastructure is adequate to the content of a Service Level Agreement that meets business continuity objectives.