Disaster Recovery Part 4: Computers & Equipment
Besides a lack of toilet paper available during the Covid shutdown, there were other important things one couldn’t seem to get. With so many people shifting to remote work, computers were sold out everywhere. Headsets were reserved for first responders. Many items that we use every day but never think about were suddenly scarce. Part 4 of the Disaster Recovery series focuses on computers and equipment.
Computer at home
From a technological perspective, Compass had entered the current century and almost all of our materials and resources were on the cloud. We were all good on that front. When the virus hit Michigan, I moved back to my home office. At home, I used a laptop; however, for everyday use, I preferred a larger desktop. There were two computers at home, and I left two at the office. I got one of the old desktops from the basement and got it all set up. It worked perfectly well for 2 weeks, and then one morning it just stopped working. I decided to retrieve the computer from my office that had the backup attached to it and was working fine when I had left the office in early March to go on vacation.
I put on my mask, found the disinfectant wipes, and made it to the office in 10 minutes flat because everyone was ordered to stay at home. It took just a few minutes to disassemble the computer and backup file, and I was on my way home, looking forward to using the computer that had all of my programs in working order and ready to go. I put all of the parts back together and turned it on only to discover that it did not work.
The backup computer didn’t work
I headed back down to the basement again to grab the last computer. I set it all up, and it didn’t work either. My IT budget was now growing by the minute! Our consultants checked out all of the machines and discovered that each one had motherboard issues. I recalled that about a year earlier the electrical service was being changed over at my building, and I was supposed to disconnect all of the computers before the changeover, but, unfortunately, I had forgotten to unplug them. A very expensive lesson, indeed! At least I still had my laptop. I went to order a new desktop, but due to the number of people who were now working from home, that was not the easiest thing to find.
Connections
My IT team, who are incredibly valuable, had connections I did not have! Thanks to them, my new computer arrived a week later. The backup from my old computer still worked, so they were able to use it to reinstall all of my important programs and documents. Otherwise, I would have spent hours getting it all back up and working.
If there is an emergency, where will you buy new computers or how will you move the ones from your office? Will you have buyers who can help with new computers? As a reminder, make sure you have a backup plan for how to handle computers if the building is destroyed or your staff must unexpectedly work from home as part of your disaster recovery plan.
Read more in the Disaster Recovery Series
