When looking at disaster recovery, you'll find only two kinds of small businesses: those that have experienced a data disaster and those that will.

Countless studies have shown that a large percentage of small businesses that ignore disaster recovery planning never fully recover. Small businesses without a thorough, regularly tested disaster recovery plan are likely to go out of business within a few months after a data disaster.

Ignoring basic disaster recovery planning can be very dangerous to your company's survival. Just because your company is a small business doesn't mean it's immune to big data disasters.

So with these risks in mind, what can your organization do right now with disaster recovery planning, on a small business-friendly budget, to protect against some common hazards? Use the questions below as a checklist for jump-starting your disaster recovery planning efforts.

Data Backup Check List

• Do you know where all of your company's crucial data files are located?

• How are these files being backed up?

• How often are these data backups run, verified, and tested?

• What kind of automation and controls are in place to make sure that data backup jobs run correctly and consistently?

• How often do your data backups go off-site?

Your answers to these questions will determine how prepared your company is in the event of a disaster. If you need help implementing a plan, we'll be glad to help.