Running a business is all about risk management—identifying and minimizing the risks that could threaten your company’s survival. No matter how well you do what you do, if you don’t proactively protect yourself from the risks that could destroy you, you’re vulnerable.
Is Your Building More Protected than Your Records?
Most firms know this, and develop disaster recovery plans that address what would happen if they suffered a catastrophic loss of their physical facilities or key personnel. It’s just good business sense to have a plan to ensure the business will survive. Yet companies often neglect to treat their mission-critical business information as the essential asset it is by planning for its protection, which is a critical mistake.
Your Information IS Your Most Valuable Asset
Your firm’s information assets (data, contact information, financial records, contracts, etc.) are just as important as any other asset you have, if not more so. As such, they should be treated with at least the same level of care. Both companies and corporate officers are legally responsible (both criminally and civilly) for their firm’s handling of information, so protecting the company from the risk of catastrophic data loss or privacy breach is an essential part of risk management.
Information Protection Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
A comprehensive records and information management disaster plan not only safeguards the information itself, but also ensures the firm’s potential liability for mishandling information is zero or as close to zero as possible. A good plan doesn’t have to be cumbersome or complicated, just well-conceived and consistently carried out.
What, at a minimum, should you consider when developing a disaster recovery plan for your information assets?
- Off-site document storage
- Going paperless
- Intelligent archiving
If your records are stored at your offices and disaster strikes, you could lose everything. That’s why smart businesses store their records elsewhere, and many also back up their data to a third location in another part of the city or even across the country.
Storing all records as digital files from the moment they are created frees your firm from dependence on physical files at your firm’s physical location for access to the information you need for daily operations. When done properly, it also enhances access and security, and protects you if a natural disaster struck your building.
Converting your records to digital files as they are archived is one way to ensure they will always be available. Converting already-archived records to digital files as they are requested is another. Both strategies together will ensure your information is always there when you need it.
Take Off Your Rose-Colored Glasses
It’s human nature to see the glass as half-full and the risk of disaster as just a remote possibility. Don’t mistake your natural tendency toward optimism for a realistic predictor of the possibility of disaster. Develop a sound disaster recovery plan that will protect you and your business if the unthinkable happens—because it does, to someone, every single day.
For expert help developing a comprehensive plan to protect your most valuable asset– your information– please call 334-396-5430 or visit www.admiralrecordsmanagement.com today!
