How To Streamline Technology at Continuing Care Centers

How Technology is Evolving in Senior Living Centers
How Technology is Used in Senior Care Facilities
How to Streamline the Technology in Senior Living Facilities

As a type of healthcare facility, continuing care centers have some unique technological requirements. These facilities have specific vulnerabilities, such as populations with health issues and even high-security concerns. Older adults have higher rates of multiple chronic conditions, and there is even a specific type of fraud in which scammers target older adults. The operating environment is unique, too, requiring a mix of healthcare, business and residential technology.

You’ll find many different types of technology in senior living centers. By ensuring organization and streamlined structures, you can offer sizable benefits for residents, employees and the facility itself.

How Technology is Evolving in Senior Living Centers

In the past decade, the ways people communicate, entertain, stay secure and track personal habits have changed because of technology. The introduction of tablets, smartphones, smartwatches and other devices granted residents and staff access to more information, data and connection. Advances in commercial tools like cybersecurity and telecommunications services have brought plenty of new possibilities to light like faster results and more protected and accessible digital information.

From an administrative perspective, facilities are seeing a range of new technologies that help run the business, such as competent facility management software, information security and data processing solutions and more advanced physical security options. Administrators can monitor and communicate faster, more securely and more efficiently than they could even just a few years ago — but only if they support the technology environment appropriately.

Between keeping up with the times and meeting cybersecurity requirements, technology has seen a significant shift. These developments are modifying the way that facilities must approach IT, hardware and security. Below are some of the ways they’re shifting.

Security Protection

When it comes to technological security, the industry is consistently making strides with new solutions to prevent malware, ensure privacy and monitor performance. It needs to evolve to keep up with an ever-changing landscape of threats, such as sophisticated scams targeting older adults and a more extensive collection of personal devices, such as smart home speakers.

These devices, which are part of the Internet of Things (IoT), are a rapidly growing threat because they lack strong securities in their hardware and connect to larger networks. They can provide a “bridge” to sensitive information and offer up more points of entry. They’re just one example of challenging security requirements. The popularity of these devices has spiked in recent years with the healthcare market alone experiencing a compound annual growth rate of 21%.

Protecting residents and facilities against these new threats requires strong security solutions and ongoing assessment to ensure that security keeps pace with advances in technology.

Better Staff and Volunteer Support

The staff and volunteers working at the senior care centers work around the clock to offer the best care for their residents, but that stress can turn into burnout, which is especially prevalent among skilled nursing staff. Sometimes, that stress comes from a clunky, challenging workday. Modern technology has made it possible for facilities to make work easier and more efficient, offering benefits like:

• Quicker daily routines: Intuitive technology and well-supported infrastructure give staff more time to attend to residents and perform their daily routines without worrying about connection or software issues. Technology supports the hard-working staff by offering up-to-date computer programs, phone service and intercom systems that simplify and speed up their workday. Online work management tools can empower staff members, minimize paperwork and add automatic record-keeping features.
• Flexible workspace: Cloud-based software and reliable internet connections allow staff to work with laptops, tablets or smartphones for easy operations throughout the facility. All important documents can be housed on a secure, shared database for greater visibility.
• Contactless interactions: Recently, facilities around the country have changed their contact protocols with residents for health and safety reasons. Modern technology allows for more contactless communication, such as intercom systems, video calls and phone calls.
• Improved monitoring: Senior care facilities typically require around-the-clock monitoring of entrances and exits to protect residents from both elopement and external threats. Modern technology might include faster, higher-quality camera systems, advanced security features and immediate notification systems. IT monitoring is also important to keep an eye on servers and other technical aspects.
• Predictive analysis: By leveraging the power of data, today’s technology can even help make predictions, such as maintenance requirements, schedule generation and risk assessments.

Eliminating buffering, long load times and poor connections can make the workday much smoother and more enjoyable for the entire staff, which also helps to improve job satisfaction and efficiency. Better work experiences can help reduce staff turnover, labor costs and more.

Active and Comfortable Environment for Residents

Independence is a significant factor that many families consider when choosing a senior care center. More and more places offer apartment-style living for independent adults who want a safe community to reside in while staying connected to their families and friends and maintaining active lives.

Entertainment, socialization and safety are at the forefront of these residents’ minds, and in the modern world, those often come through digital means. Overall, 67% of adults 65+ use the internet, with a higher percentage of 82% for younger seniors aged 65-69. Internet use enables many important activities, from streaming TV shows to connecting with the grandkids, so having strong, reliable connections is essential for resident comfort, especially in the coming years as more tech-savvy elders join these facilities.

Aside from simple internet access, this infrastructure often supports assistive and IoT devices, as well. The technical environment must support these tools securely, factoring in the unique IT landscape these additional devices create.

How Technology is Used in Senior Care Facilities

Much like schools and hospitals, senior living centers need technology to give staff members the best resources and residents the best experiences while maintaining a secure, reliable environment that keeps them safe. Let’s take a look at some of the common ways you can use technology in nursing homes.

Communication and Entertainment

Modern technology like smartphones, tablets and laptops give everyone transportable access to all kinds of communication. Connection to devices gives older adults the ability to keep up with friends on social media, join weekly video calls with family members and send daily text messages to loved ones. Modern technology makes these vital connections easier to come by and more versatile. It also gives them various entertainment options, from watching their favorite show to playing a game on their phone.

While these devices are important for resident happiness, communication is also vital for their health and safety. Many older adults are now using digital technology to communicate with their doctors and healthcare team. This might come in the form of Telehealth appointments or remote monitoring devices for vitals like blood pressure and heart rate. Of course, they must be supported with essential telecommunications systems like the internet and cellular service.

Staff can also use modern technology to send out email announcements, newsletters and updates to the community faster than ever. They can share virtual sign-up sheets for activities and create billboards for upcoming events to send directly to residents or even post on social media.

Accessibility

Assistive technology is making great strides every year, and older adults often use these devices to get around, communicate and make their days easier. Some examples of these devices include:

• Text-to-speech systems.
• Reminders.
• Medication dispensers.
• Smart home devices and assistants.
• Hearing aids.
• Motorized wheelchairs.
• Automatic doors.
• Remote controls for lights, blinds and fans.
• Devices like remotes and keyboards with large, tactile buttons.

While some of these tools are essentially self-contained and don’t need access to the internet, many do need this connection to function or take full advantage of their features. Apps, for instance, often use Wi-Fi to communicate with smart lightbulbs, thermostats, TVs and other components of daily living. They may link up with smart speakers for easy voice control.

These kinds of IoT devices can improve access and independence for residents, but they also change the technical landscape of the facility. They might require more robust IT monitoring and next-generation firewalls built for the job.

Safety

The care and protection of the residents is a crucial responsibility of a senior care facility. This kind of support means constant availability is necessary from the staff. However, this isn’t always possible with limited resources. Technology provides alternatives that allow smaller teams to keep up and provide more attentive care throughout the facility.

Some examples of safety tech include:

• Sensors: Sensors allow care staff to be alerted to concerns when they appear, allowing them to focus on other duties in the meantime. Sensors on the beds in each room, for instance, can be used as a precaution during the evening hours. If someone falls out of bed, the monitor senses the weight shift and alerts the staff member on call. This technology sends help to any resident without the constant watchful eye of staff.
• Medication dispensation: Similarly, technology has made it possible for senior care facilities to access digital medication dispensers. These machines safely distribute the correct amount of medicine to specific residents to avoid over or under dosage. For older adults who have trouble remembering if they took their medication or not, this technology creates a safe solution while removing the human error of staff who typically count out everyone’s dosages.
• Entrance monitoring: Security cameras aren’t just necessary to keep threats out of the building — they’re also necessary to help staff monitor the locations of residents. In some cases, residents may experience disorientation or other altered mental states that could cause them to leave the care and safety of the facility. Security systems and notification solutions can help alert staff to elopements at points of entry.
• Remote patient monitoring: These devices might include watches, blood pressure cuffs, insulin monitors and many others. Patients can use them to send ongoing data to their providers and monitor their health over time. They contribute to a holistic, 360-degree view of the patient’s wellness.

Security

With all of this powerful tech, it’s no surprise that security concerns are paramount. Senior care facilities need robust cybersecurity in place to protect against risks of malware, data breaches and performance problems. While most organizations have these same concerns, the unique environment of senior living communities makes their IT solutions look a little different, with factors like:

• Elder fraud: With an older generation that isn’t as familiar with internet scams and the many schemes targeted to them, technical protections must be in place. You should install devices and networks with the most updated technology to work against harmful attacks. The right security solution can help residents learn to avoid attacks and prevent malware on their devices, but it should also protect the shared servers and databases to which residents connect to.
• Medical information: Senior living centers also hold plenty of medical information that must be carefully guarded according to industry regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Appropriate protections might include firewalls and safety filters that help avoid leaked data, malware or regulatory fines. Without these risk mitigation measures, you could be putting the facility at risk for negligence.
• Vendors: If you work with partners, such as a maintenance crew or cable provider, they must adhere to your security standards, both technical and physical. For example, you may need to have your maintenance workers sign a privacy agreement regarding resident information, so coming across a patient file doesn’t create an undue risk for security.

Security breaches in long-term care facilities create risk for the residents, damage to the facility’s image and costs associated with regulatory fees and lost business.

How to Streamline the Technology in Senior Living Facilities

Technology is constantly changing, and with a fast-paced environment like a senior care center, it’s crucial to stay up-to-date. Streamlining the technology in senior centers means making it more accessible, secure and reliable for staff and residents. From common areas to private rooms and apartments, access to technology gives older adults the independence and freedom they deserve while still caring for their wellbeing when it comes down to health, safety and communication.

Some ways you can streamline your facility’s approach to assisted living technology include:

• Align new technology with your business goals and strategy: Technology shouldn’t be added just for the novelty of it all. Make sure it fits into your overarching strategy and helps you meet new goals. Consider its effects on your key performance indicators (KPI).
• Focus on adoption: If no one uses a piece of tech, it just becomes something extra that’s taking up space and costing you money. Make sure your residents and staff know about the resources you have to offer and how they can help them. Try and build excitement.
• Educate residents and staff: Similarly, offer training and classes to help residents and staffs use their devices properly and stay safe. A simple 20-minute class for residents on avoiding phishing scams could be all it takes to prevent a data breach.
• Integrate technology: Whether you’re redoing an entire system or adding something small, look for ways to integrate devices and technologies. A seamless operation can streamline management and improve use overall. With Morefield Communications, we can take care of many different aspects, like training, unified communications, cybersecurity and networking services, so we can make sure your technology plays well with each other.

The best way to streamline usage is to ensure you’re patterning with a comprehensive IT solution provider.

Work with a Trusted Technology Partner

Wondering what technology is best for seniors? Instead of training all the facility’s staff and volunteers on the technology, the best solution is to hire an IT specialist. Morefield Communications offers expertise in telecom, networking and cloud services to keep up with the latest technology. As a managed service provider for senior facilities, we can help you offset the costs of state-of-the-art tech.

With expert help desk support, on-site and remote technicians rely on an outside source to assist with your facility’s technology with giving residents the connection they need to maintain their routines and social lives. At the same time, it provides staff with peace of mind while carrying on with their daily routines and check-ins without interruptions. Working with a trusted technology partner like Morefield Communications makes everyone’s experience with technology easier and more efficient in the long term.

Reach Out to Morefield for the Best Results!

Let’s talk about incorporating and enhancing technology at your senior care center together. For more than 75 years, Morefield Communications has offered our dedicated service to clients in the Pennsylvania area. Contact us for more information, and let us help you upgrade your senior care facility with the technology services it has earned. After all, your residents and staff deserve the best.

Managing the complexity of IT networks, system requirements, industry regulations, cloud computing, cybersecurity, VOIP, application updates, software licenses, hardware replacements, and more, is a lot to expect from one employee. Co-Managed services is an IT model that blends the convenience and strategic framework of an internal IT team with the support and comprehensive knowledge of a managed-service provider.

What Is Co-Managed IT Service?

Co-managed IT is an IT management service model that allows businesses and administrators to customize which IT services to keep in-house and which to partner. It gives businesses a unique opportunity to pair the convenience and up-to-date resources of an external IT management service with their own in-house specialists to optimize efficiency. With co-managed services, you can pick and choose the resources you need and when you need them. IT co-management is an opportunity to create a partnership to supplement, enhance and support your existing IT team.

How Does Co-Managed IT Work?

Many businesses need help or additional workforce from external IT management services, outsourcing IT operations entirely does not make sense for their business. That’s where the co-management model comes in. When you establish a co-management approach, you:

1. Analyze your existing IT department’s needs, skills, resources, tools and abilities.
2. Determine which services or resources you need to meet department or organizational goals.
3. Partner with a third-party organization to supplement those needed services.

Co-management looks different for each business. For example, some companies may rely on their in-house IT department for helpdesk support while depending on an external partner for large-scale strategies and security, or vice versa. It’s also important to note that co-management is flexible — as your needs or resources change, so does your co-management strategy.

Who Uses Co-Managed IT Services?

Co-management is the ideal IT solution if you meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Your IT staff is too small or overworked: IT departments can easily become overworked if there is a spike in demand, a new and more demanding projects on the horizon or employees on leave. While businesses do have the option to hire additional staff, the process can be costly or time-consuming — and sometimes not worth the budget and time spent if there is only a temporary need for support. Supplement your existing department with a third-party co-manager to get the benefits of outside help without the same level of ongoing commitment.
• You’re taking on a new project: Get critical IT projects done without compromising already stressed business resources. Co-managed IT is what you need to work alongside your staff to create smoother transitions or maintain operations while your business adjusts.
• There’s a knowledge gap: Even the most gifted or experienced IT department may find that a specific task or issue lies beyond their skill set or training. In these situations, an outside party with specialty experience can supplement the gap in knowledge to help your team accomplish more in less time.

Many orgnaizations — including schools, health care, manufacturing, law firms, accounting offices, banks and financial institutions — are grappling with these issues and could benefit from a co-management IT model.

Pros and Cons of Co-Managed IT Services

There are numerous benefits of co-managed IT, but also a few considerations to keep in mind before selecting it as your management model.

Advantages of Co-Managed IT

Co-management offers much of the same benefits of total third-party IT management while allowing you to keep control of chosen tasks and let your IT team focus on their areas of expertise. These are a few reasons you should consider a co-management model for your business or department:

• Retain control over operations: Your IT team retains control of all administrative access – and even gets access to tools and services provided by Morefielld. Choose which areas of operation you want to streamline with third-party input and direct the rest toward in-house staff.
• Less responsibility to manage: Keeping your operations running smoothly and working faster with third-party help means there’s less responsibility to manage on your own. Compared to hiring a new staff member, you aren’t responsible for training or guiding a third-party expert. You have extensive access to diverse IT professionals with a range of experience to help you develop or implement strategies, give valuable insight and boost your day-to-day.
• Keep up with trends: Keep up with IT trends, like security, software and technology, without adding the extra time and resources required to train your in-house staff to use them.
• Offer around-the-clock support: One of the biggest advantages of using a co-management IT model is that you can offer around-the-clock support, including after-hours support, an essential quality businesses who don’t just operate 9-5. They can also help cover things like sick or vacation time so you can take time off and know that the network and systems are still being supported!
• Get instant implementation:No more spending time finding, hiring and training new staff for a temporary or one-time project — co-management means instant implementation for new strategies or projects without the commitment involved with hiring a new employee.
• Save and reallocate hiring costs: By supplementing your existing IT team with an external specialist, it allows your department to accomplish more with fewer employees and on-site resources, translating to cost savings for you and the IT budget. Outside experts can also provide insight into which product upgrades or technologies may better serve your specific business, resulting in more long-term savings and benefits.
• Build employee morale: Business insights, improved strategies, quicker response times, professional consultations and decision support are empowering tools that can help to foster a more positive employee culture among your IT team. By giving them the resources they need to be successful, you’re creating a work environment that promotes longevity and better focus on the task at hand.
• Get increased security: Bolster your current cybersecurity posture with our best in class tools and processes. Implement vulnerability management, security information and event monitoring (SIEM), mobile device management, endpoint protection and more with our partnership.

Disadvantages of Co-Managed IT

• Choosing the right partner is essential: Choosing the right IT partner is critical to finding success with the co-management platform. They must have the tools, experience and flexibility to meet your specific needs. Depending on the partnering company, you may also have to navigate lengthy onboarding or transitional periods.
• You could encounter compatibility issues: Always check with your chosen IT partner regarding software requirements and compatibility needs to keep operations running smoothly throughout the partnership.
• There are upfront fees: While there are cost savings associated with co-management, you are responsible for paying the upfront fees for your new partnership. However, you do have some control over these costs, as you only pay for the resources you need and how often you need them.

How to Choose the Right IT Co-Management Partner

Before you begin your search for the perfect third-party to help you manage your IT, it’s critical that you audit your existing operations. Consider which services and skills you already bring to the table, then compare that to your goals to see what resources you’re missing. This will give you a clear picture of what you need, what you can afford and what to look for in a partnership.

Once you’re ready to move forward, consider the following attributes to make the right choice for your business needs.

Service Model

Different third-party IT management companies have different co-management models that may include varying resources, technology or time commitments. Research each option carefully and consider what’s best for your budget, team, project and business.

Pay close attention to the following:

• Contract details:Consider the details of the contract, including its duration, the services included and the division of responsibilities and duties. The idea of co-management is flexibility, so you can find the help you need, whether it’s temporary assistance for a one-time project or ongoing supplemental support.
• Services included: In addition to the types of services offered by the third-party co-management company, consider the scope of those services and what tools, technology and equipment they use to complete tasks successfully. What is their plan of action should there be a system error, power outage or environmental disaster? What sort of data backup and security features do they offer?
• Communication method: Frequent, open communication is the most critical component of successful IT co-management. Before you partner with a company, both your IT department and the third-party manager should discuss their plan for communication, including the method — phone, email, video conference, in-person meetings, etc. — as well as the frequency and emergency protocols.
• Mission alignment: Finally, review the company’s mission statement and objectives. How does it align with your own business goals and values? For some businesses and organizations — such as nonprofits — similar passions or dedications may fuel an even more successful co-management partnership.

Experience

Choosing a co-managing partner with prior IT management experience and expertise is essential. Check the following:

• Referrals: If you’re unsure where to start your search, seek advice from industry insiders or other people in your business who have found success with a co-management model.
• Reviews: Once you find a potential company to partner with, check all references in detail and read reviews from previous clients. Request samples of previous IT management projects, including co-management and total management projects. Look for information about their skill set, technical expertise, professionalism and communication.
• Expertise: Expertise is always important hiring criteria for in-house staff and external partners. Consider the technology they are proficient with, past strategies they have implemented and the scope of their previous projects. Look for partners that have IT experience in your industry or field for an easier transition and more valuable insight and recommendations.
• Tools: Ask for a list of the technology, equipment, software and strategies your partner has experience with and which resources they will bring to your team.

Flexibility

Flexibility is a critical component of an IT co-management partnership. Your internal team needs to know that your external partner is available to adapt to new projects or issues as circumstances evolve and your business grows. Ask your potential partner about their formal escalation process, including any project management tools they use to resolve issues or reassign tasks. Consider the methods they use for updating tickets and how long a ticket stays at a specific tier before being escalated further up. This also includes post-escalation, like the method for notifying involved parties and marking tickets as complete before using the information to inform future training.

Don’t forget to consider different time zones and how they may impact duties or communication. If possible, partner with a local trusted expert who is familiar with your community and your business.

Cost

Your chosen third-party partnership should operate within your budget. Keep these cost factors in mind:

• Know your financial status: Before you start outsourcing any portion of your IT workload, you need to know your financial situation in detail. Know what you can afford, where there are opportunities to save, cut and reallocate costs and understand the ongoing cost associated with each potential partner.
• Be upfront about your budget: Be upfront with your third-party manager. Let them know your budget, so they know which tools and resources they can utilize and how often they may be expected to contribute to your operations.
• Monitor ongoing expenses: Keep track of all IT costs. Compare the cost of upfront third-party fees with the money saved from not hiring additional on-site IT staff. Make adjustments as needed.

Contact Morefield Communications for Co-Managed IT Services

The right co-management partner can transform your existing IT team by resolving tickets faster, supporting your staff, meeting unique project needs and keeping up with changing market demands.

Morefield Communications is ready to step in as your co-managed IT provider. We offer technology assessments, personalized insights and recommendations and access to the latest technology in networking, wireless and security. Learn more about our managed IT services and solutions and connect with us today to speak with a representative.

TRUST.

Trust. You always have to trust someone in a digital world. The news headlines below describe a current reality: the largest cybersecurity attack in history is being unraveled in real time. To be fair, the attack was publicly disclosed a month ago in December, and experts are still trying to figure out the scope of compromise. Organizations of all sizes, utilizing the SolarWinds Orion platform, potentially installed a malicious update to this software platform. Ironically, the Orion platform is used to increase availability of resources – one of the three key pillars of cybersecurity.

Most of our clients do not have the budget or talent to develop their digital software in house, so they purchase software developed by a third party. Think about all of the different types of software you interact with on a daily basis: CRM, word processor, spreadsheet, email, etc. In each instance, some level of trust is required before you start to utilize these software packages. We likely don’t think twice about the software development process – we just care that it has the features and workflow that will move our organization forward. Perhaps we assume that these vendors make cybersecurity a priority during software development. Should we make this assumption?

Many small to mid-size organizations are not going to be able to influence the security considerations that go into an off the shelf software package. Your investment in the vendors product is a drop in the revenue bucket – take it or leave it.

In all fairness, many of the organizations that were targeted during the SolarWinds Orion compromise are very large organizations. They have a dedicated cybersecurity budget. Many take cybersecurity seriously and implement controls that make sense in their environment, and yet for months attackers went undetected in their network. The point here is that you can do all the “right” things, make the “right” technical control investments, and yet not achieve the outcome you expect.

A Security Event & Incident Management (SEIM) platform is designed to digest logging data and then analyze it in a variety of ways. Such a platform can consume logging from any number of sources: firewalls, security tools, workstations, servers, etc. These data streams are then compared against various threat intelligence feeds to alert you of events that show some degree of an indicator of compromise. This real time data can alert system administrators to potential security events that would otherwise go unnoticed. You can also conduct threat hunting exercises to review historical data in the event you learn about some form of zero-day (or novel) threat that has already happened, such as what happened with the SolarWinds incident – an attack that went undetected around the world for over six months.

Boost Your CyberSecurity With Morefield Communications

We have partnered with Perch Security to deliver a managed SEIM service in partnership with their Security Operations Center (SOC) – a team of hyper focused cybersecurity professionals that monitor the logging from you network 24/7. The Perch solution helps to monitor your network at all times, and they will escalate any actionable events to your attention for remediation. This cloud hosted solution will scale from just a few endpoints to thousands of devices.

Perch also helps organizations satisfy compliance requirements, for example: CCMC, HIPPA, SOX, PCI, etc. Many small organizations also use cybersecurity frameworks, such as the NIST Cyber Security Framework (CSF), to drive decision making and to facilitate creation of an organizational security policy. The Perch solution fits into the following CSF functions: Identification, Protection, Detection, and Response.

The outcome for a small business is clear when choosing security solutions: you can spend less of your time trying to find a needle in a haystack and more time focused on your business goals. We encourage you to reach out if you would like to learn more about the Perch Solution.

Contact Morefield Communications to learn what those network defenses are for you.

Increasing user productivity in the remote working world is more important than ever and making the most of your collaboration investment without sacrificing important enterprise telephone features is key. Learn how integrating MiCloud Connect with MS Teams offers a total solution that saves time and improves your calling experience with integrated telephony, conferencing and contact center.

Watch on demand to see how Mitel and Morefield’s best-in-class telephony solution allows Microsoft Teams users to maximize their investment and workplace productivity.

Key Benefits

The need for seamless cloud communications and collaboration have never been more important. Mitel has worked to bring people together for years and is now innovating how Microsoft Teams users can enhance their business communications with Mitel. Register today to see how Mitel is integrating a best-in-class telephony solution to Microsoft Teams users to maximize their investment and workplace productivity.

Emergencies are unpredictable, but that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare for them. Their unpredictability is the main reason we must have assurance against bad outcomes. Emergency management mitigates the overall impact of a disaster, however drastic.

When you apply this to a business structure, it can be the difference between struggling through setbacks or making a speedy recovery. Business continuity, or the ability of your company to continue despite exposure to threats, relies heavily on your level of disaster preparedness.

Your organization should make intentional decisions about how it will survive in times of uncertainty. Once critical systems fail, this jeopardizes your client’s trust in your product. Your business will also struggle to recover from the setback, if it does at all.

Therefore, businesses need to create both prevention and recovery plans. These procedures include keeping the business operational during the disaster itself. As companies today depend more and more on technology in their everyday transactions, involving information technology in this plan is crucial.

What Is an IT Disaster Recovery Plan?

An IT disaster recovery plan is a documented methodical proposal for managing situations that occur in the event of natural or human-made disasters. The steps of a disaster recovery plan typically revolve around taking actions that help a business resume operations as quickly as possible. Business continuity systems stress the importance of a disaster recovery plan.

Such a method is fundamental to preventing or alleviating data loss and recovering systems. Therefore, disaster recovery plans must be developed in conjunction with business continuity systems.

Most or all businesses rely on technology for almost every operational process. Companies use technology like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and email every day to communicate effectively. Additionally, some organizations use electronic data interchange (EDI) to make electronic transactions — like invoices and payments — between partners.

Businesses implement servers that are capable of storing large amounts of data through the cloud or housing them physically to hold their most vital information and run processes efficiently. Laptop or desktop computers are also essential for most office spaces.

This technology may extend outside the office into wireless devices. But depending on the technology your business uses and the details of the disaster, your network could still be compromised. This issue is why the very first step in developing an IT disaster recovery plan should be identifying vulnerabilities and risks, as well as setting objectives for recovery.

Business Impact Analysis

Companies develop a business impact analysis to identify vulnerabilities and their effects. This analysis is another structured procedure for evaluating how a potential disaster will affect integral business processes. A business impact analysis, along with an IT disaster recovery plan, falls under the category of a business continuity plan. The evaluation works with the presumption that not all processes are critical — thus, it’s suitable to focus more attention on the most significant ones.

For example, a power supply failure in the coffee and lounge room of a company will not be as dire of a situation as the breakdown of the business’s information technology systems. Based on this analysis, companies can streamline decision-making by allocating the better part of funding and resources to their more crucial components.

Conducting a business impact analysis consists of gathering and evaluating data, preparing a report of your observations and presenting your research to the corresponding management team. Your business can decide to hire a third-party company to manage and collect information. The business impact analysis usually includes a survey or questionnaire to assess and identify the essential business operations that need preservation in the case of a disruption.

Once the business impact analysis is presented and closely scrutinized, several things need to be taken into account. Companies must consider the impact of revenue streams, market shares and public image, among other things.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is another major element of a disaster recovery plan. Also called a risk analysis, this assessment concentrates less on the loss of business and more on identifying the actual risks that might lead to that effect. Through risk analysis, organizations hope to mitigate these unfavorable effects when they do occur. A risk analysis must theorize the probability of an oncoming disaster as well as the potential harm a failure can bring.

Risk assessments have several important uses. Their primary purpose is to prepare and lessen the results of an adverse event. Secondly, they aid in evaluating whether the risks of any project are balanced by its advantages. Businesses must ask if a project is beneficial to the extent that the pros outweigh the cons in risky project development. Risk analyses also plan what happens if there is a software or hardware failure, even if the cause isn’t natural.

Risk assessments are imperative in the recovery process. During the analysis, businesses must quantify how the aftermath of such a failure will change the company’s future — this means preparing for when new competitors gain popularity in the industry or when governments place legal restrictions on the market, for example.

Like the business impact analysis, a risk assessment will typically begin with a survey asking for collective inputs about potential risks and threats. Next, the evaluation identifies and analyzes risks. The analysis involves figuring the likelihood of a risk and its outcome. The final steps begin with developing and implementing a risk management plan — this policy should take specific measures to eliminate or reduce risk.

Finally, your business should keep a close eye on the risks identified and classify future risks that arise.

How Does Disaster Recovery Work?

Disaster recovery itself needs to heed the groundwork of both the business impact analysis and the risk assessment. At the same time, an IT disaster recovery plan accounts for the specific risks and impacts related to the business’s IT structure. Recovery policies should anticipate the loss of any technological frameworks.

Computer environments, hardware, service connectivity, software and data stores should all be taken into consideration. For these frameworks, disasters and failures of several varieties can occur, including application, communication, data center, building, campus, citywide, regional, national or international.

Disaster Recovery Plan Objectives

Two principal models account for the disaster recovery plan objectives. These objectives ensure a well-ordered system for disaster preparation. They emphasize a business’s initiative in preparing for the worst, ultimately diminishing the damage that would occur if not for strategic planning. The two main disaster recovery plan objectives are:

• Recovery time objective: Recovery time objective (RTO) refers to the amount of downtime a business can tolerate if a system fails. You can measure this duration in hours, minutes or seconds. As downtime disrupts critical operations, it can affect a business’s revenue and reputation. In 2019, 25 percent of companies worldwide reported that an hour of downtime cost them between $301,000 and $400,000. This objective is determined by the particular equipment vulnerable to failure and the redundancies set aside for them.
• Recovery point objective: Recovery point objective (RPO) is a measure of the age of recovered files. When a system fails, system administrators must recover records from backup storage. Though businesses should strive to back up their data frequently, it’s unlikely your business will have backed up its data without having prior knowledge of an upcoming disaster. For that reason, files will be at least a little bit aged.

RPO is expressed backward from the point of failure, as in five days ago or 24 hours ago, for instance. After your business designates an RPO, you’ll need to schedule backups around it. That means if your business’s RPO is 120 hours, you’ll need to back up the system every 120 hours.

Objectives are not the only elements of how disaster recovery works. Alongside a disaster recovery plan is a disaster recovery strategy. The key difference between the two is that a recovery strategy defines in general terms what businesses should do in response to an incident. A recovery plan describes how exactly this plan is executed. Recovery plans build upon the foundation of recovery strategies.

What Is a Disaster Recovery Strategy?

Recovery strategies must recognize the many factors that go into the restoration process. These include budget, insurance, technology, data, suppliers, compliance requirements, employees and physical facilities. The appropriate management team should approve recovery strategies, so the organization can take a position on the associated risks. The recovery strategy needs to be in line with your company’s goals. Similar to business impact analyses, a recovery strategy can be internal or vendor-supported.

For backup purposes, an internal recovery strategy might be holding business hardware in multiple locations. The data at each location, including the principal source, should be replicas of one another. This way, there won’t be any complications restoring backups. A vendor-supported recovery might rely on hot sites or fully functional third-party data centers. These sources often possess unique equipment that can salvage or store resources once a disaster strikes. Vendors can also host data streams, data security services and applications.

You can access the information stored by vendors via the internet on an internal or external website. The vendor can hold data automatically once an outage occurs. They will store this information until you can adequately restore your system. Vendors sometimes offer data filtering and malware detection as well.

What Is a Disaster Recovery Plan?

A disaster recovery plan should be customized depending on the environment that would need restoration when a disaster occurs. Given the range of modern technology, there is a diverse range of recovery plans you can arrange, including:

• Data centers: This plan should detail how to recover technological infrastructure, namely data centers. Since data centers manage major business information, the risk assessment should play a pivotal part in this plan. Organizations need to consider geographical location, power supply, security enforcements and office space.
• Network: Network disaster recovery plans are just as elaborate as those of data centers, if not more. A business’s network can consist of various features and interconnections. This plan is best organized with the help of professional IT staff. Because of its complexity, the system needs to be in a step-by-step format and receive regular updates.
• Cloud-based: Storing data and running software through the cloud has been an increasingly popular method of cutting infrastructure costs and opting for remote computing. However, even the cloud faces some threats. Security is the most significant concern for cloud servers. Deliberate and repeated testing can relieve this concern and sustain future data loss caused by a disaster.
• Virtualization: Virtualized systems like a virtual machine or desktop can ease much of the worry in a disaster scenario. A virtual environment can initiate the recovery process in minutes, decreasing downtime. Virtual systems are also the optimal environment for testing. Virtualized disaster recovery plans mostly need to ascertain that applications can return to normal operations following restoration.

IT Disaster Recovery Checklist

An IT disaster recovery plan can be simple and straightforward if your business doesn’t require anything more than the fundamental elements. Preparation is paramount, so creating an IT disaster recovery plan checklist can be your first step to safeguarding your company:

1. Establish the scope of recovery: What hardware and software will your business need to recover if a disaster occurs? To what extent can you restore these systems?
2. Be familiar with the network infrastructure: You may accomplish this through documentation or personal examination. Networks can be very intricate, so your business needs to be sure of what it will include in a recovery plan.
3. Define RPOs and RTOs: Your business can manipulate its control over the situation if it has managed expectations for downtime and data loss. Be cognizant of your tolerance for these issues.
4. Employ analyses and risk assessments: Use a business impact analysis and risk assessment to identify serious threats and business affairs. You’ll need to choose the most critical business operations to maintain. Calculate the figurative and literal costs of operation failure.
5. Investigate past disasters: Look at past disasters and analyze how your business recovered from them. Naturally, this will serve as a starting point for a more exhaustive IT disaster recovery plan.
6. Build a disaster recovery strategy: As discussed, this is your business’s broad response to an incident or outage. These strategies are eminent in building the final disaster recovery plan.
7. Decide who is responsible: Assign responsibilities to members within your organization for specific recovery procedures. Doing this might involve establishing an incident response team — a group of IT specialists who have expertise in handling issues related to disaster recovery. This team should test for vulnerabilities and create an incident response plan for security attacks.
8. Conduct a review: Have your management review and approve the disaster recovery plan. These individuals should have input on the matter. These team members should know the risks outlined in the restoration procedures, so they can remove some of these points if applicable.
9. Organize a communication plan: A communication plan should delineate how your business will communicate updates and alerts during a crisis. As an illustration, email is usually reliable during normal business operations. However, a disaster can endanger employees, and you should use a more immediate means of contact. The response team also needs to communicate amongst themselves and stay up to date with helpful information.
10. Do tests: Test the disaster discovery plan at regular intervals and update it if necessary. Doing this enables you to make timely modifications instead of discovering faults during the time of disaster.
11. Audit your disaster recovery plan: This step means making official and accessible documentation. These documents will go into detail about the procedures and practices that employees and administrators should enact in case of a disaster.
12. Revise your SLAs: Include information about your IT disaster recovery plan in your company’s service-level agreements (SLAs). SLAs offer a promise to clients that you will meet a specific standard of service. Providers should be transparent with clients about how these standards might change, if at all, in case of circumstance.

Tips for Your Organization

While the basic principles of an IT disaster recovery plan may be straightforward, productively applying these directives can be difficult — this is because your business has to build a recovery plan that works intuitively with its available resources. Additionally, your company has to be practical about taking measures for disaster preparation. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Be Transparent

It pays to be honest. Although every business is eager to make their clients happy, set performance standards for your company that you can keep up with. Do not make promises to a client that you can get your server up and running in hours if you need to negotiate maintenance plans with a third-party vendor. When it is possible to make enthusiastic promises, do so. When it is not, balance customers’ expectations with what you can accomplish, given your budget and resources.

2. Stay Within Budget

Small businesses are accustomed to having to stretch their budgets to accommodate advanced systems. Your business should be creative about the resources it already has. Rather than investing in out-of-budget software or hardware, your organization can use incremental backups to make up for any disparities. Cloud computing is an excellent way to address the risk of data loss, as well. It is usually cost-effective and encryption-compatible.

3. Consider Relevant Business Measures

Note the key measures in disaster recovery plans — detection, prevention and correction. Detective measures alert the relevant team of vulnerabilities in your IT systems. Vulnerabilities can be anything from an out-of-date firewall system to broken sprinklers. Detecting these problems early on means you can direct attention toward fixing them. Preventative measures stop dilemmas from happening in the first place. An example of a preventative plan would be to prepare backups to prevent data loss.

Finally, corrective actions deal with the follow-up of a disaster — amending systems that sustained damage. Insurance and disaster recovery audits fall under this category.

Work With an IT Expert

Businesses work with substantial amounts of data. If these files are compromised, it could result in the undoing of a successful company. Every type of organization can benefit from an IT disaster recovery plan. Technology has numerous niches in almost every business. It aids in communication, daily operations, data storage and more. Therefore, applying a recovery plan is an indispensable facet of running your organization. But you don’t have to tackle a disaster alone.

Morefield Communications can help you by managing and maintaining your computer systems professionally and aptly. We are dedicated to giving you solutions-focused service that will address a combination of personal risks.

Our services include network management and systems technical support. Your network can trust in 24-hour service, and your technology will remain consistently current. We’ll even provide new technology, so you can rest assured that you’re working with the best products for your business.

Better yet, everything we provide is compiled into one cost-savvy IT solution. Whatever you need, we have you covered. Don’t be blindsided by an unforeseen disaster. Get in touch with us today.