How can you improve IT disaster recovery?

Disasters don’t wait for a convenient time to strike. Whether a cyberattack, power outage, or natural disaster, your organization’s ability to recover quickly can make or break your operations. But many small and mid-sized businesses still don’t have a structured disaster recovery plan—or worse, have one that’s never been tested.

Here’s how to improve your IT disaster recovery before you need it.

Start by having a plan

The most obvious yet overlooked step is simply having a documented disaster recovery plan. This plan should outline how your business will respond to various disaster scenarios—anything from a server failure to a complete office shutdown.

Your plan should answer questions like:

• How will data be restored?
• Who is responsible for what during recovery?
• Where will employees work if your primary location is unavailable?
• How quickly do systems need to be back online?

Without a plan in place, even small incidents can cause chaos.

Test the plan like it’s real

A disaster recovery plan is only useful if it works. That’s why testing is just as important as planning. You need to simulate real-world scenarios and walk through each step of the plan. This isn’t just about checking a box—it’s about uncovering weaknesses before they become failures.

When testing, don’t take shortcuts:

• Pretend your office is completely inaccessible.
• Run backups as if systems were truly down.
• Time how long it takes to restore access and confirm usability.

Testing helps identify delays, outdated assumptions, or miscommunications that can be fixed proactively.

Don’t confuse backups with recovery

Many businesses think they’re covered because they’re backing up their data. But backups alone don’t equal recovery. You also need to ensure:

• Your backups are working (and restorable)
• They’re stored securely (preferably offsite or in the cloud)
• They align with compliance requirements (such as HIPAA or financial regulations)

And just as importantly, you should regularly test those backups to ensure they’re complete and accessible.

Consider your business continuity needs

Disaster recovery is part of a broader business continuity strategy. Some businesses can afford to be down for a day or two. Others—like financial services or healthcare—need systems back up within hours or even minutes.

Define your:

• RTO (Recovery Time Objective): How quickly systems must be restored
• RPO (Recovery Point Objective): How much data you can afford to lose

These metrics help shape the right recovery strategy for your business and help you budget for it accordingly.

Match your infrastructure to your plan

If your business plans to rely on the cloud for disaster recovery, ensure your internet connection can handle that load. Stability, bandwidth, and uptime all factor into how well your cloud-based recovery will work in a real-world event.

Also consider:

• Offsite or hybrid cloud backups
• Redundant systems or failover capabilities
• Cybersecurity protections for recovery environments

IT disaster recovery is a team effort

Improving disaster recovery isn’t something your IT team does alone. It requires buy-in from leadership, participation from staff, and clear roles defined for everyone. The better prepared your team is, the more resilient your organization will be.

Need help designing or stress-testing a recovery plan? TeamLogic IT can help you develop a practical, reliable strategy to minimize downtime and protect your business.