OK, so you can't avoid disasters. There isn't some weather control hotline that you can call to say "we don't want a [insert disastrous weather phenomenon here] this year". The only thing you can do about these disasters is to either live in a bubble or plan for the worst that mother nature can throw at you. A study published by the University of Texas shows that only 6 percent of companies that suffer a "catastrophic data loss" ultimately survive. A scary thought when it comes to the business world, and even if you don't lose data, you still lose business if you are closed.
This past year at NAMFS, they really hit home the idea of disaster recovery, and Maxim took it to heart. The biggest issue in disaster recovery stems from a single question "how do you know your plan works?" With most plans, you have it, but it comes with a hefty price tag to run through the entire plan. The plan ends up sitting there, unused until disaster strikes, and then you hope that the plan you worked tirelessly on to create actually does its job.
That was the old Maxim plan prior to NAMFS. When Steve returned from Atlanta, he looked at our plan and wondered if there was a way to make it better. After discussions with our managed services provider (MSP), we came up with a new plan.
Suffice it to say, our old plan was laid to rest shortly after the new plan was devised. Working endlessly with our MSP, we have created a plan that is actually testable. Our servers will exist in two locations, Ohio and Florida. Since it is never hurricane season in Ohio and mother nature doesn't release 2 feet of ice and snow in Florida, we have the perfect solution. All it takes is the flip of a switch and Maxim is no longer located in Ohio, but it moves to a bunker in Florida. This means that we will be able to show that Maxim's downtime will be limited to about 10 minutes instead of 2 days. So I am leaving out a lot of detail, good for you though as the reader because you don't want to be bored by such technical details when you are looking at a business blog. The point is, testability ensures survivability.
