Alt text: a firefighter pointing at a disaster site
Understanding the Importance of Disaster Recovery in Telecommunications
All articles about disaster recovery and telecommunications say the same thing. Telecommunications are essential for governments, companies, and communities to recover from natural and manmade disasters. Yet very few companies are prepared for emergencies. 66% of Americans say they are not prepared for natural disasters.
Being prepared means studying the disasters you can face and the simple steps you can take to recover from them. Here are the essentials of disaster recovery in telecommunications.
Disasters Are Getting Worse
More than 11,000 natural disasters occurred worldwide between 1970 and 2019. The number of disasters increased by a factor of five between those years, even as the number of deaths decreased.
Economic losses from natural disasters have increased sevenfold between the 1970s and the 2010s. Between 2010 and 2019, $383 million was lost daily due to natural disasters.
Climate change is the main reason why natural disasters are worsening. Humans are putting more water vapor in the atmosphere, which makes extreme rainfall, flooding, and hurricanes worse. Oceans are getting warmer, increasing the number of tropical storms and hurricanes.
When people think of natural disasters, they think of fast-onset storms. Slow-onset disasters include droughts and heat waves. Droughts are the deadliest disasters, causing 650,000 deaths between 1970 and 2019. Climate change strongly influences droughts, so you can expect more frequent and deadlier droughts as time goes on.
The worse disasters get, the more important disaster recovery becomes.
Writing a Disaster Recovery Plan Is Easy
Creating an IT disaster recovery plan can help you prepare for emergencies immediately. It makes responding to emergencies easier and bolsters your brand image as professional and intelligent. Share your plan with all your employees and customers so they know how diligent you are.
Convene a meeting of your executives and senior-ranking employees. Look at your data centers and think about what emergencies can occur there. Brainstorm ways of preventing, responding to, and recovering from those emergencies. You should also anticipate disasters with your software, data, connectivity to service providers, and remote office phone systems.
Write a list of telecommunications resources you need to buy for disaster recovery. You may need to find a site where you can move your servers. You can even buy another office so your employees have a place to work after a storm or fire in your current location.
Related: VoIP vs. Landlines: How to Find the Best Phone System
Telecommunications Can Help You Prepare for Emergencies
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Early warning systems are a major factor in why deaths from natural disasters have decreased. Scientists can better monitor weather phenomena as they form and tell the public to get ready. Governments can send out up-to-date information about storms and tell people how to evacuate.
You should have an early warning system for issues like system incompatibilities, data breaches, and accidents. Enable remote management and monitoring. IT professionals can manage your endpoints and troubleshoot your systems, preventing problems before they occur. If they notice something wrong, they can send you messages to protect your data and change your passwords.
Looking for an experienced team of IT professionals to monitor your telecommunications? Call SE Telecom’s unit of remote managers today!
You can educate your employees about emergencies using modern telecommunications tools. Use a Clear Clouds Phone System for group calls about security measures. Conduct an in-person seminar annually and tell your employees how to keep their accounts and devices safe. Go over potential network attacks like phishing and device theft.
Cloud systems can let you access your data even if your office or hardware is damaged. Move sensitive information to the cloud. You can run the technology, or you can ask a cloud professional to monitor your system for you. Back up your files and update your hardware regularly.
Telecommunications Can Help You Respond to Disasters
Your telecommunications system must remain active during any disaster. You must have backup systems that can activate immediately after your main system fails.
You should have multiple ways of contacting employees and customers. Use landlines and VoIP systems to make phone calls. Text messages and emails are good for group messages to remote employees.
Related: How to Set Up VoIP
You should also have multiple ways of backing up your data. Put sensitive files on tapes, USB drives, CDs, and other devices. During a data breach, move your information onto these devices and delete the copies on exposed networks.
Your website should remain live to update your customers about what is happening. Connect your social media pages to your website so you can inform all of your customers about the emergency.
Electronic data interchange (EDI) can help you transmit data to your vendors, partners, and other important people. EDI systems let you send information faster than mail, especially during emergencies. Contact an EDI company that can send accurate details to your partners and prevent misleading invoices and messages from getting through.
Want to build a resolute and secure telecommunications system? Book a demonstration with SE Telecom now!
Disaster Recovery Helps With Customer Retention
Alt text: a customer service representative at the computer
Customers understand that disasters may be out of your control. However, failing to respond to disasters adequately can damage your corporate image and motivate customers to leave your company.
Be transparent when an emergency occurs. Tell your customers what happened and what steps you will take to prevent future disasters from occurring.
Remain accessible to your customers. A third party should run your website so it remains up even if your data center and office are damaged. Find ways to improve VoIP quality of service (QoS) by prioritizing traffic and data packets through your routers.
Related: What Is VoIP QoS?
Partner with your local first responders to get help immediately after a disaster. Being the first company in your area to return to normal business can help you attract new customers and keep your old ones. Give your police department a copy of your disaster recovery plan to help find a thief or intruder sooner.