Backup and Disaster Recovery in Chicago and Milwaukee

What is backup and disaster recovery?

Backup and disaster recovery, sometimes called BDR, are two parts of one safety net. Backup keeps extra copies of your data in more than one place, so a lost or locked file is not gone for good. Disaster recovery is the step-by-step plan for bringing your systems back after a serious event, like a fire, a flood, a power outage, or a ransomware attack. One protects your data. The other gets your whole business running again.

What are RTO and RPO?

These are the two numbers at the heart of any recovery plan, and they are simpler than they sound:

• RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is how fast you need to be back up. If your business can be down for four hours but not four days, your RTO is four hours.
• RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is how much data you can afford to lose, measured in time. If you back up every hour, you could lose at most an hour of work. That hour is your RPO.

We help you set both for each system, because not everything is equally urgent. Your email and order system may need to be back in minutes, while other files can wait. Setting clear targets keeps you from overpaying to protect things that are not critical, and from underprotecting the things that are.

How does Prescient’s process work?

1. Assess. We learn which systems and data matter most, and how long you can really go without them.
2. Set targets. We set an RTO and RPO for each system with you.
3. Build the plan. We write down the exact steps to bring systems back, so no one has to improvise during a crisis.
4. Set up backups. We put reliable backups in place, stored in more than one location, with extra copies so nothing is lost.
5. Prepare a recovery site. We partner with disaster recovery hosting facilities to set up a backup environment that can take over and get you running again.
6. Test it. We test the plan so you know it works before you ever need it.

Why does a tested plan matter?

The middle of a disaster is the worst time to find out your backups do not work. A plan that has been tested means your team is not guessing while the clock runs and money is lost. Regular testing is the difference between a plan on paper and a business that actually recovers.

Why choose Prescient?

We have protected Chicago- and Milwaukee-area businesses for more than 27 years. We treat your data as seriously as your building, with redundant storage so a single failure does not cost you your files. From the first assessment to the final test, we make sure that if the worst happens, you can keep working.

 FAQs

What is backup and disaster recovery?

Backup means keeping safe, extra copies of your data. Disaster recovery is the plan for getting your systems and data back fast after a fire, flood, outage, or cyberattack. Together they keep your business running when something goes wrong.

What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery?

Backup protects your data by keeping extra copies. Disaster recovery is the full plan to bring your systems and operations back after a serious event. You need both, because copies of data do not help if you have no plan to get running again.

What does RTO and RPO mean?

RTO, or Recovery Time Objective, is how fast you need to be back up after a problem. RPO, or Recovery Point Objective, is how much data you can afford to lose, measured in time, such as the hour since your last backup.

How often should we test our disaster recovery plan?

Regularly, because an untested plan may fail when you need it. Prescient tests your plan so you know it works before a real event, not during one.

Where is our backup data stored?

Prescient keeps reliable backups in more than one location, with redundant storage, and partners with disaster recovery hosting facilities to provide a backup environment that can take over if your main systems go down.