With the tumultuous events that have plagued many businesses, and with more threats on the horizon from natural disasters, cyberattacks and even public health crises, it’s never been more important for companies to have strong business continuity and disaster recovery processes in place. Having these plans in place can help ensure that your customers can continue to receive the services they count on in any disaster event, and minimize downtime and lost revenue for them.
The key difference between business continuity and disaster recovery is that while the former focuses on keeping the business operational during a disaster, the latter focuses on restoring data access and IT infrastructure after a disaster. Creating and maintaining these plans is an ongoing effort that requires both planning and execution, but a well-executed plan can make the difference between success and failure when disaster strikes.
Developing a BCDR plan starts with a detailed impact analysis, which includes identifying critical functions, data loss tolerances and the amount of time that can go by before your organization needs to be back up and running in order to provide its services to customers. Once those details are set, a business continuity plan can be created that outlines the steps needed to keep the company going in any event, including employee contact lists, procedures for evaluating and responding to incidents, equipment lists and technical diagrams of IT systems.
As part of the planning process, companies need to assemble a team that will activate their business continuity or disaster recovery plan when needed and will work with each other to determine how to handle an incident. The team should be made up of both IT and business unit representatives, as they will need to have a good understanding of the technology and process involved in each scenario. In addition, the team should be trained regularly on their role and responsibilities. business continuity and disaster recovery