Recovery Planning Prior to the Disaster Disaster recovery and business continuity are increasingly notable topics these days, and there’s probable cause: unforeseen instances can buckle a business. According to the Association of Contingency Planners, business continuity planning should be an integral part of every business – large or small, public or private. Every organization should plan for how it would continue to operate and access their documentation in the face of interruption from a variety of natural or manmade hazards. Here’s the staggering reality: the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) finds that of organizations that house their information onsite: • Only 37% of companies test internal backups regularly • Of the 37%, an alarming 77% were unable to fully recover • 40% of SMB’s don’t back up their data at all • 60% of companies that lose their data go out of business within 6 months. Here’s your opportunity to help. Providing a cloud document/content management system (CMS) to your clients creates convenience for data access when disaster strikes. With cloud software as a service program, your clients’ documentation is housed on hosted servers offsite, accessible by an online portal from any location. If their office’s systems are down, or worse – fire, wind or water damages their facilities – their must-have information is available to them wherever they temporarily relocate to keep their organizations operational. Cloud CMS is beneficial for disaster-free days, too. This browser-based content management enables distributed paper and electronic document capture and upload, permission-based document access, printing and distribution, allowing secure document warehousing and sharing for practical knowledge management and colleague collaboration. It’s a program suitable for everyday use, along with being a significant component of a company’s business continuity plan. Your benefit is ease of implementation. Many of your clients are short-handed in the IT department. Cloud CMS providers manage the system and host the data, train staffers on its usage and provide technical support as needed. This removes the responsibility of support from you and your staff, freeing you to further build your business. Tim Nissen is Marketing Director of Winter Haven, Florida-based content management software developer DocuLex. Reach him at tnissen@doculex.com.