Why Indiana Businesses Must Prioritize IT Resilience This Season
Each spring and summer, Midwest businesses brace for more than just heatwaves—severe thunderstorms, high winds, power outages, and even tornado threats are part of the seasonal norm, especially in Indiana. While most companies prepare their buildings and staff for inclement weather, one critical area is often overlooked: their IT infrastructure.
Server rooms and onsite data storage systems are especially vulnerable to environmental disruptions. Without a strong disaster recovery (DR) plan in place, a single storm can take your systems offline, corrupt data, or even bring your business to a halt. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 40% of small businesses never reopen after a disaster, and another 25% fail within one year. The primary reason? Lack of preparedness.
At Braden Business Systems, Inc., we help Indiana organizations fortify their business continuity and disaster recovery strategies before storms ever touch down. If your team hasn’t reviewed its disaster recovery plan recently—or doesn’t have one at all—now is the time.
Let’s explore why disaster recovery planning is essential this spring and how your business can protect its most valuable digital assets from weather-related disruptions.
The Real Risks of Spring Storms to IT Infrastructure
Midwest storms are unpredictable, but their impacts are familiar to anyone managing business technology. The most common threats include:
Power outages and surges, which can damage physical servers
Flooding, especially in buildings with basement or ground-level server rooms
Network disruptions, cutting off cloud access, or halting critical operations
Hardware failure due to overheating or power cycling
Data corruption or loss, particularly if backup systems fail or are misconfigured
These risks increase exponentially for businesses relying on legacy systems or in-house server rooms without backup power, climate control, or remote failover capabilities.
Braden Business Systems routinely works with clients across Indiana who’ve experienced downtime during spring storms. Often, their backup systems were outdated, their recovery plans untested, or their key data scattered across platforms. We help identify these gaps—and close them.
What Makes a Strong Disaster Recovery Plan?
A disaster recovery plan isn’t just about data backups; it’s a comprehensive strategy for keeping your business operational in the face of disruption. Here are the foundational elements every Indiana business should have in place:
Data Backups
Your backups should be automatic, frequent, and stored in multiple locations—including offsite or cloud environments. Relying solely on onsite backups is risky when weather-related damage is possible.
Recovery Time Objectives (RTO)
How quickly do your systems need to be back online? For some businesses, it’s hours. For others, it might be minutes. Defining your RTO helps guide the technology and investments required.
Recovery Point Objectives (RPO)
How much data can you afford to lose between the last backup and a failure event? Understanding this threshold helps determine your backup frequency and method.
Failover Systems
Whether through cloud replication or a secondary data center, having an environment ready to take over in real-time ensures continuity when your primary systems go down.
Power Protection
Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), surge protection, and even generators are key to protecting server hardware and ensuring orderly system shutdowns if needed.
Communication Protocols
During a crisis, everyone from IT to operations must know who to contact, what steps to follow, and where to access documentation.
Braden helps businesses design custom disaster recovery playbooks, test them regularly, and adapt them over time—especially as operations grow or new threats emerge.
Local Weather, Local Strategy: Why Indiana Businesses Need a Regional Approach
While many disaster recovery solutions are sold as one-size-fits-all, local risks demand local planning. For Indiana-based businesses, regional threats such as flash floods, tornadoes, and power grid vulnerabilities should be directly accounted for.
Here’s why local planning matters:
Storm Frequency: Indiana averages 50+ tornadoes annually, not including the hundreds of thunderstorm-related outages. Businesses need fast recovery from sudden disruptions.
Aging Infrastructure: Many buildings in the region lack redundant power systems or properly cooled server rooms.
Industry-Specific Regulations: Whether you’re in healthcare, education, or manufacturing, data retention and availability requirements vary. Local providers like Braden understand these nuances.
Braden Business Systems works with companies in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, and beyond to ensure their DR strategies align with both industry compliance and local environmental risk factors.
Cloud and Hybrid Backup Solutions: Your Best Defense
Modern disaster recovery often relies on a mix of cloud and hybrid solutions—balancing the speed and control of on-premise systems with the flexibility and safety of cloud-based redundancy. A well-structured hybrid backup system offers the best of both worlds:
Local backups for fast restores and performance
Cloud backups for offsite protection and geographic redundancy
Real-time replication to cloud servers or colocation centers
Automated failover for mission-critical systems
Braden helps businesses deploy platforms like Datto, Microsoft Azure Site Recovery, and Veeam, which offer fast RTOs and built-in ransomware protection. We also tailor recommendations based on your network, budget, and operational priorities.
Testing Your Plan: The Most Important Step
A disaster recovery plan isn’t worth much if it hasn’t been tested. According to Gartner, 70% of organizations have a DR plan—but only 35% test it regularly. Without testing, businesses risk learning about critical gaps at the worst possible time—during a crisis.
Braden Business Systems facilitates DR testing and drills for clients throughout the Midwest. These exercises help identify:
Incomplete or outdated documentation
Backup failures or missed schedules
Communication breakdowns
Gaps in employee training
Testing transforms your DR plan from a document into a working strategy. It’s also an essential step toward maintaining cyber insurance coverage or meeting compliance requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What’s the difference between disaster recovery and data backup?
Backups are one part of disaster recovery. DR includes the full plan to restore operations—covering systems, infrastructure, communication, and timelines.
How often should we back up our data?
It depends on your Recovery Point Objective (RPO). Many businesses choose daily or hourly backups. Braden helps customize this based on your data risk tolerance.
Can we afford a full DR solution?
Yes. Braden offers scalable disaster recovery solutions for small and mid-sized businesses. Cloud-based DR options are budget-friendly and effective.
What happens if our internet goes down during a storm?
Hybrid systems allow for local access and cloud syncing when the network is restored. Braden helps configure redundant internet connections and offline access options.
How often should we test our DR plan?
At least annually—more often if you’ve made major system or staff changes. Braden provides hands-on testing support to ensure readiness.
Protect Your Business Before the Storm Hits
No one can predict when the next spring storm will roll through Indiana, but every business can prepare. A well-executed disaster recovery plan doesn’t just protect your data—it safeguards your productivity, customer trust, and long-term success.
Braden Business Systems makes disaster recovery planning approachable, practical, and scalable. Whether you’re looking to protect a single server or build a robust business continuity plan, we’ll help you take the right steps before disaster strikes.
Get in touch with Braden today for a customized disaster recovery assessment and find out how to keep your business running smoothly, no matter what the forecast says. Reach us at info@bradenit.com.