by Philip Lieberman - CEO and President, Lieberman Software - Friday, 13 January 2012. It is no surprise that disaster preparation is top of mind among people these days. The images and stories coming out of Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami and recently repeated in end-of-year reviews, inevitably lead to people wondering, "What would I do if the earth moved or water flooded my state, city or neighborhood?" The floods in Thailand in late 2011 which have resulted in major hard-drive shortages are another example of disasters which can affect business continuity. From a business perspective, much of disaster planning revolves around all-important data back-up and recovery processes. Whether a disruption is the result of a cataclysmic event or a hardware malfunction, real business continuity cannot be maintained in this digital age without off-site backup. But offsite data back-ups are no magic solution for disaster recovery. There’s a lot more to the story.There are many factors that can complicate the recovery process if businesses aren't careful. Here are six of the biggest issues organizations may face as they plan for continuity.Back up activation keys and licensingApplication data isn't much good if your company has not backed up the activation keys and licensing necessary to restore its software licenses. Many organisations forget how important it is to keep duplicates of the activation and licensing information in safe and redundant locations to ensure a quick recovery after a disruption.Securely store encryption keysSimilarly, encrypted backup tapes are about as useful as doorstops when an organisation loses its encryption key information. Recent public-sector data breaches have proven that organisations cannot get by with keeping backup data unencrypted. This makes it critical for you to plan and execute a key management strategy. You'll need to think about how keys will be stored and recovered to assure a smooth data recovery process.Account for application customizationsMany organisations will spend millions of pounds on consulting fees to create customised modules and settings for enterprise software only to see it all go up in smoke following a disaster. A big mistake businesses often make is to back up all of the appropriate application data but forget about duplicating customisation information. Remembering to fill this gap ahead of time can not only save money, but also prevent prolonged business disruption following an incident. 1 | 2 [1] | Next page >>[2] References^ 2 (www.net-security.org)^ Next page >> (www.net-security.org)