Public Safety Canada has reported that nearly 40% of businesses are affected following by serious storms each year.
Recent flooding in Alberta has caused many business owners to reevaluate their disaster recovery protocol; many law firms have begun to recognize the need for pre-planning and proactive IT solutions to protect their assets in similar emergency situations.
Extreme weather conditions aside, it is in the best interest of all law firms to create a disaster recovery plan. It’s said that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; drafting a plan to protect valuable data from minor flooding, misplaced storage devices, or computer glitches can help you retain clients, and protect your firm from liability.
What is at risk without a disaster recovery plan in place?
Think of your disaster recovery plan as a safety net protecting your firm from eventualities that could render your services inoperable, and therefore unprofitable. If you neglect to establish an emergency response plan, you risk:
- Missing court appearances due to lost appointment information, disabled calendars or event reminders, or limited access to client communications
- Loss of hourly and daily income. If your network goes down, lawyers can no longer bill their clients. Additionally, money will need to be invested in data recovery services, and may need to be paid if you are found liable for lost data.
- Loss of clients. If a client loses contact with their representative during their time of need, the firm will certainly be released from its duty, and the client will look elsewhere. To make matters worse, the client will have the option of pursuing legal action, since the firm will have technically “forfeited†their agreement; this can yield a hefty fine and generous refund for the client, and create unwanted headaches for you.
How do I create a disaster recovery plan?
When sitting down to create plan, don’t focus only on those contingencies that will potentially cost your firm money – think also about processes that could affect your employees.
Here is a brief overview of some of the critical applications your disaster recovery plan must protect:
- Email server (s)
- Document management solutions
- File server(s)
- Digital dictation software
- Case management applications
- Practice management software
- Financial system
- PDF generation software
- Version comparison software
- CRM system
- Resource management application
For further information about what you’ll need for your disaster recovery plan, request a quote, or call our IT consultants for direct assistance at 1-888-913-6266.