Companies of various sizes and sectors are subject to incidents that can put the entire operation at risk, leading the company to lose money and, in many cases, this can represent irreversible damage to its financial health.
Therefore, it is increasingly common for business planning to include contingency strategies developed so that the company does not have its operations paralyzed if a major IT incident occurs.
In this article, we will show the importance of a company having contingency strategies and how it should act in cases of major IT incidents. Read on to check it out!
How to develop contingency strategies?
Invest in tools and team training
There is no way to predict when a major IT incident might occur. Therefore, the best strategy is to keep your company always prepared. Investing in team training can be synonymous with security:
- Divide the main incident management team;
- Train subteams to manage major incidents;
- Delegate responsibilities based on competencies and needs;
- Use a regular basis to perform simulation tests;
- Identify strengths and evaluate team performance;
- Fill gaps according to the specialty of each subteam.
This way, the team will be prepared to act in a real scenario. It is worth noting that technological tools are allies of the contingency team, so invest in smartphones and tablets so that remote work can also be performed in emergencies.
Define what a major incident is
It is necessary to establish the parameters that define major incidents. Generally, they are classified based on factors of urgency, severity, and operational impact. A major incident is capable of paralyzing various sectors within the company, reducing the entire flow of activities and directly affecting its performance.
Stay prepared to contain incidents
As we said, one of the best contingency strategies is to keep your company always ready for possible major IT incidents. Therefore, make sure you have chosen the appropriate resources to contain them.
Consider the frequency of incidents in your business over a given period to know if your company needs a dedicated IT team or outsourced services. Also consider the level of impact these unforeseen events have caused to the operation.
Some companies dedicate large teams to ensure the security and functioning of the operation, while other companies have dynamic teams formed by various specialists for each department. Whatever your company’s case, the goal is to avoid emergencies that compromise productivity.
Document incidents to optimize your defense
Every experience is valid, even negative ones, because it is always possible to extract useful knowledge to prevent potential new problems. Therefore, document in an organized way every detail related to the last resolved incident, such as:
- The resources that were used to solve the problem;
- The time it took for the incident team to resolve the issue;
- The adaptations that had to be made so as not to stop the operation;
- The cost that the resolution of the incident entailed for the company.
Then apply all necessary changes in the company to prevent it from future occurrences. These records will serve as a guide to optimize your management.
What are the main IT incidents?
Hacker attacks
The main strategy that the contingency team should adopt in cases of hacker attacks is: do not let the intruder notice that they have been discovered, because if they realize they are being monitored, they could cause the intended damage even faster, or change their strategies to no longer be detected.
The contingency team must act discreetly and efficiently, identifying the presence of intruders and blocking access so that they do not succeed and, of course, expelling them from the network.
If possible, identify the hacker and send their information to cybercrime enforcement agencies.
Software problems
Many companies depend on a specific software to perform their daily functions, which is why this is one of the most serious IT incidents and can literally halt business activities.
Data backup can be a fundamental tool for the contingency team to solve a software problem, as it is through it that the failure will be identified, showing or not the need to update it.
It is necessary to always keep active the temporary storage of the latest data, so that, if a software problem occurs, recovery can be performed with agility and efficiency.
Viruses
It becomes much harder for a virus to infect company computers when there is a department applied to IT contingency, working constantly to keep the network secure, and data is stored in cloud servers, generating corporate data backups.
If a virus incident occurs, it is possible to solve the problem by removing all information already saved in a backup and scanning the machines with an antivirus. Formatting computers and installing software may be a necessary option, depending on the case.
Power outages
Power outages are common, and most companies have a continuity system for the use of devices, computers, and networks in case of electrical failure. Among the widely used equipment are uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and generators.
In addition to allowing operation not to be stopped abruptly, it provides enough time for computers and devices to be properly shut down until power returns.
If the company does not have the structure to contain the electrical failure, all devices must be unplugged immediately so that there is no risk of power returning all at once and causing damage, such as burned equipment.
In this article, it became evident that to design IT incident contingency strategies, the first step is to carry out good planning, considering a series of factors linked to the production pace and the size of your company’s operation.
In addition, it is important to always maintain a specialized, well-trained IT team with appropriate resources at your disposal.
Liked the article? Also check out our post on how to set up an IT contingency plan!
