As the winter rages on, companies need to think about the strain that winter weather puts on their infrastructure, services, and resources. How will your business operate if a severe snowstorm heads your way? Will your employees be able to access the data necessary to do their jobs? Disaster recovery plans are often taken for granted — and companies shouldn’t underestimate the value of having a plan that would keep their critical data and storage systems safe and sound should Mother Nature strike.

While setting up your own disaster recovery site can be costly, outsourcing to a colocation data center partner provides businesses with a space to set up their network, servers, and storage. Colocation eliminates the upfront infrastructure capital costs for organizations, providing companies with the option to share space in a data center, including high-density applications, redundant power and cooling options, customizable suite and cage designs, and tailored security levels.

To find the best disaster recovery site that will help your business continue to operate in adverse scenarios, companies need to be thorough in researching their options and make sure the site meets key performance and security requirements.

Companies develop disaster recovery plans to help minimize risk, so it is imperative that your disaster recovery site offers high-tech security features to ensure your data is safe. Before you sign a long-term contract, visit the facility and be on the lookout for perimeter security, cameras and test generators to see if these fulfill your security requirements.

Location can also be a contributing factor. While organizations don’t physically have to send people to disaster recovery sites as regularly as they used to — as long as they can access the necessary equipment and do what is necessary to fail over and bring others online — business continuity may influence the decision to establish an alternative workspace closer to your main site. This is because the distance from your main location to your disaster recovery site can affect the latency and performance of applications. In today’s always on the go world, reducing latency is an important factor in empowering staff to achieve business goals.

Lastly, it is important to select a disaster recovery site that can grow with your business. When selecting a site, be sure to inquire about the amount of space available, as you don’t want to have to change facilities after a few years, simply because you’ve outgrown the space they have available.

Finding a disaster recovery site that meets all of an organization’s requirements can be challenging, so make sure you balance your short-term and long-term needs when researching locations. Companies have different priorities and no two sites are the same.