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In Times of Crisis Can You Retrieve Your Disaster Recovery Docs in a Flash?

Disasters don’t make appointments.  And most organizations fail to ensure that all key personnel have access to the most up-to-date versions of disaster recovery and business continuity documents.

“They’re on my desk at the office” is a common response when a key person is contacted at home during a crisis.  Or worse, no one is quite sure where the latest version of every key document is located.  Everyone has a copy, but few have the same version - or the right version.

A few additional common problems with disaster recovery/business continuity documentation:

• Contact lists contain people who are no longer employees
• Missing or out-of-date vendor lists are included in the documents
• Inaccurate or out-of-date equipment and network documentation is included
• If the system is down and the latest version is electronic and stored on the office system, it is inaccessible

The solution for all of this?  It’s as simple as utilizing a device that has plummeted in price over the past couple of years:  the USB flash drive.  The concept is simple - put the entire set of key documents on flash drives and distribute these to all responsible business continuity personnel so they are accessible when needed.

The benefits may be obvious, but lets review them here:

• Flash drives have become a very low-cost option for high capacity storage.  8Gb drives can be found for less than $20.
• The general population won’t have access to these proprietary documents
• Flash drives are a very stable and reliable storage media

Of course, you’ll have to run the use of a flash drive through your company’s business continuity or disaster recovery testing process.  And confirm that the use of such a device for storing these critical documents meets your company’s policies on disaster recovery.  But with the right processes and practices in place, the use of a USB flash drive might ensure that your business is up and running quickly rather than everyone running around looking for the right documents while thousands upon thousands of dollars and data are lost during critical delays.