Data disaster recovery plans: How to deliver DR plans

There's a good chance that businesses large and small fail to test their data disaster recovery plans more than once every year -- if they have plans at all. This is where you come in. As a value-added reseller, systems integrator or consultant, you can help customers identify what they should be doing to prepare for unexpected events, explain why DR plans are a necessity -- not a luxury -- and actually deliver plans to suit their needs. This fast guide will help you along the way, highlighting DR planning basics, ROI calculators and checklists for documenting a plan.

Disaster recovery planning 101

• Definition: Disaster recovery plan
  Also known as business continuity plans, DR plans are, simply stated, methods for handling emergencies. Find out what other tasks they involve.
• Disaster recovery FAQ audiocast
  What DR concerns are at the top of your potential customers' minds? Check out this collection of questions that are frequently asked at SearchStorage.com.
• The importance of disaster recovery planning
  No company should take the potential for disasters lightly. This collection of key DR considerations and best practices can help you identify where customers need to beef up their efforts.
• Storage School: Disaster recovery planning
  Learn about new recovery approaches, uncovered by DR guru Jon William Toigo, author of several books and 1,000+ articles on the subject.
• Disaster recovery overview: DR planning and design
  Where can a third-party provider come in? There are some common steps to follow when approaching a DR project in any customer environment.

Selling disaster recovery plans

• Disaster recovery: Ad hoc and expensive
  Most users only test their DR plans once every year. (Only once every year!) This article offers insights into the current state of DR planning and testing, which may help you justify a DR plan.
• Disaster recovery profile: Measuring a company's disaster recovery profile
  Determine where your customers rank on the disaster recovery profile and identify just how much DR help they need.
• Executive Guide: Risk management
  How do your customers calculate and manage risk? Take a look at the various risk management/avoidance resources in this guide.
• CIOs slow to make telecommuting part of DR plan
  A laptop and access to the VPN can save a company millions during a disaster – a concept many CIOs have yet to be made aware of.
• SMB business continuity basics
  DR should not solely be the domain of large enterprises. This tip offers important considerations for approaching an SMB DR project.
• Disaster recovery plan for a data warehouse
  Data warehouses have become mission-critical systems that help executives make business decisions, but rarely do they have current -- if any -- disaster recovery plans. Leverage that factor and the information in this column when pitching and delivering a data warehouse DR solution.
• Standard ROI financial analysis tool
  Help customers determine how much they could ultimately save by investing in a DR plan with this standard ROI tool.

Delivering disaster recovery plans

• Delivering disaster recovery solutions in the VAR channel
  Using a base DR solution, a VAR can allow a company to continue doing business after a disaster – and find various streams of revenue in the process.
• Disaster recovery technologies overview
  Off-site tape storage has been surpassed by remote replication as an essential method for recovering from a disaster. This tip offers an overview of current DR technologies.
• Special Report: Disaster recovery planning
  You shouldn't -- and probably can't -- offer the same DR solution to a range of customers, but you can determine which hardware and software products you want in your DR offerings. Get help in this special report.
• Disaster recovery management considerations
  Why do IT shops turn to third-party service providers for DR? Get tips on why and where businesses are looking to outsource.
• Checklist: How to maintain an effective SQL Server DR plan
  This checklist will help you develop the documentation a customer should have ready before a SQL Server failure occurs.