Everyone worries about surviving a business disaster, but luckily, most are never put to the test.

Late June, lightning struck Permutation Company's telephone line, setting off a cascade of electrical damage affecting every router, switch, desktop and printer throughout the office.  Client machines sit behind a set of industrial filters (and were unharmed), but just about everything else was turned to scrap.

Disaster Planning Is Planning To Survive

What might have been a business-ending event was merely an annoying inconvenience, as all data was backed up in real-time.  Additional networking equipment (stored on site) was immediately deployed and key information was copied onto spare laptops.

The biggest inconvenience was the lack of a phone line and Internet connection, so those functions were tethered through an Android mobile phone.  It was slow, but manageable.

We were up and running quickly... only to experience the much more painful task of managing our service providers' help desks!

Bottom line...  having a good plan and the right equipment means the difference between irritation and catastrophe.