Your business relies on its IT infrastructure to survive, even if you’re in a more conventional industry. You are dependent on mobile devices, computers, spreadsheets, documents, and storage of data to keep your business running efficiently.
The future is unpredictable, have you thought of what could happen if everything was suddenly wiped out? What if a fire took out the majority of your physical storage devices? What if a cyber-criminal was able to take control of your servers and hold them hostage?
Warning!
Almost 50% of small businesses have been breached in some way within the last year, yet a shocking 82% of business owners still believe that they would never be the target of an attack or breach because they don’t have anything worth stealing.
It may be true that a small enterprise doesn’t have access to the capital or resources compared to large businesses, but cyber-criminals are opportunists—they look for easy work, not for big pays.
With both cyber crimes and natural disasters having the potential to damage most businesses, why don’t more business owners have a disaster recovery plan?
Reasons For Entrepreneurs’ Lack of Interest
1. Not Knowing Where to Start
Some small business owners may not know where to start, since “data protection” and “disaster recovery” are extensive topics. It is advisable to start with finding a reliable provider of data backup and recovery, these services will protect your digital information in case it’s ever held hostage or physically destroyed. From there, you can gradually build up your security protocols and enlist other services that suit your main structures.
2. Thinking They’re Not Targets
As we mentioned above, many entrepreneurs trust that they would never be the target of a cyber hacker. Sadly, this simply isn’t the case. In fact, 43% of all cyber-attacks specifically target small enterprises—and that doesn’t account for the simultaneous threat of natural disasters. Believing it’s not important is the worst mindset in cybersecurity.
3. Not Understanding How Security and Data Recovery Work
Entrepreneurs may not understand the nature of the threats that are out there. They may not think about physical disasters, or they may think threats like hackers and ransomware are few and far between. They may also not understand how easy it is to back up their data or establish basic security policies, with most modern solutions happening automatically and routinely. This lack ofunderstanding of disaster recovery solutions keeps them from continuing with any solution.
4. Not Making it a Priority
It is possible that the business owner knows the importance of a data recovery plan and protection, but this goes at the bottom of their priority list as they have focused on their “main” work.
Data protection may not seem important until it’s been compromised. It’s like thinking about health insurance only after you had a medical emergency. If you want to protect yourself, you need to plan early, and be proactive. It may not take priority over any emergencies that your business is currently struggling with, but it needs to be high on your list.
Don’t let this stay in your To-do’s for a long period of time. Schedule a day and a time, get it Done!
5. Procrastination
Some business owners may just be procrastinating because they don’t want to make a decision. They may feel insecure in their understanding or just don’t want to pay for any additional services. Whatever that is, they’re definitely taking their sweet time moving forward on any new policies.
These motivations seem legitimate on the surface and it’s perfectly understandable that an entrepreneur who doesn’t feel threatened wouldn’t want to take any action. But, believing you’re a good driver doesn’t make you less likely to have an accident.
Threats to your data, your assets, and your entire IT Infrastructure are very real, and unless you have a proactive plan to mitigate or deal with them, you could suffer the consequences.
