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Introduction to Disaster Recovery: Why Every Business Needs a Plan

In business, much like in cooking, following a clear process is essential for success. If you’re baking cookies, you’d follow a recipe to ensure everything comes together just right. Without it, you’re likely to end up with something unappetising. The same principle applies to disaster recovery—having a structured process improves your chances of success and ensures you have a plan that can be used when needed.

That’s where Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning come in. These are two closely related but separate processes that ensure your business can continue running in the face of unexpected disruptions. Whether it’s a natural disaster, cyberattack, or any other crisis, having a disaster recovery plan in place is critical to reducing downtime and maintaining operations.

The first thing we need to do in this process is assign ownership. We need accountability. Who will be in charge of the business continuity and disaster recovery plans? Once ownership is assigned, we can begin the rest of the planning process.

Next, we need to develop a policy for both business continuity and disaster recovery. Every program or initiative in business should have a policy that defines its purpose and scope. For disaster recovery, this includes identifying the purpose of the plan—why are we creating it and what are we trying to achieve?

We also need to define the scope. Will the disaster recovery plan cover the entire organisation, or just certain parts? Most of the time, the plan should cover the entire business, but there may be instances where it’s more focused.

Finally, we need to define the authority within the program. Who will be empowered to make decisions and take action when a disaster occurs? This ensures the plan is executed efficiently and that the recovery process can begin quickly.

Once we have ownership, a policy, and authority in place, the next step is to perform a Business Impact Analysis (BIA). The BIA helps us identify key business processes and prioritise them based on their importance. What are the most critical functions for the business to stay operational? Once these processes are identified, we can determine the impact of losing any of them. For example, if we lose email capabilities, what will happen? Will we be unable to process payroll? This analysis helps us understand the potential effects of losing key business functions, which will inform our recovery strategies.

After completing the BIA, we move on to risk analysis, where we assess the likelihood of risks occurring and the impact they would have. From here, we establish recovery goals, such as how quickly we need to recover certain services. These goals will differ based on the importance of each service—some services, like payroll, might have a higher tolerance for downtime than others, like an inventory system.

The recovery strategy is where the planning comes together. This is where we identify the recovery solutions that will meet our goals. For example, if we need to recover a system within six hours, we need to ensure we have a solution that can meet that requirement. Typically, the higher the recovery time objective (RTO), the more cost-effective the solution will be. Conversely, the lower the RTO, the more expensive the solution will likely be.

Once our recovery solutions are defined, we need to test our recovery plans to ensure they work as expected. It’s vital that we test these plans regularly and update them as necessary. If a disaster occurs, we don’t want to be caught off guard with a plan that doesn’t work.

Training is also critical. All personnel involved in the recovery process need to know their roles and responsibilities. Without clear training and role definition, a disaster recovery plan can quickly fall apart. This is why ongoing training and updates are crucial.

Finally, business continuity and disaster recovery plans are living documents. As people move roles, systems change, or new risks emerge, we need to continuously maintain and update these plans. A well-maintained plan is essential to minimising the impact of a disaster and ensuring the business can continue to operate smoothly.

In summary, disaster recovery is not just about having a plan; it’s about having a plan that’s well-thought-out, regularly tested, and adaptable to change. Every business needs a plan to ensure continuity in the face of disruption, and implementing these steps will help you get there.