Some of the key considerations for business planning are in disaster recovery and business continuity, but is there a difference between the two or are they just two ways of describing the same thing?
Difference Between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Both business continuity and disaster recovery aim to keep your business operational when unforeseen events happen.
The main difference is that business continuity is more of a proactive strategy to ensure that vital processes and systems will be maintained when hit with adversity. Disaster recovery, on the other hand, is more of a reactive plan to return operations to their usual state following a disaster.
How To Create a Business Continuity Plan
In order to set up an effective business continuity plan (BCP), you need to take an overarching view of your business operations and highlight the main risks to your company that could result in downtime or a break in the normal smooth running of your enterprise.
For example, is your business based in an area that is particularly susceptible to floods or at risk from wildfires?
Does your business model rely heavily on one particular supplier or main client? What would happen in the event that these vital business contacts were no longer available?
Has your business taken steps to mitigate the effects of a serious data breach or cyber attack and how would you continue to operate if you were locked out of vital business processes?
What Should Be Included in Your Business Continuity Plan?
In order to ensure your business is ready to deal with adversity, you should ensure your BCP includes
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Planning for communication strategies in the event of significant disruption—how would you contact other parts of the business if the Internet or phone lines were not working?
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A set of backup options that can be readily reverted to in the event of unforeseen consequences. This could include office premises or spare equipment, even alternate contractors or suppliers in case their business is affected by a disaster, which, in turn, disrupts operations.
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Strategies to redeploy critical staff members—what other roles can your teams perform if necessary?
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Backup strategies for critical data—how will you protect important information that must not be lost in the event of a catastrophe?
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Risk assessment and business impact analysis—how likely are potential issues and how will they affect your business when they happen?
Disaster Recovery Planning—How Does it Work?
Disaster recovery works hand in hand with your business continuity plan. This will involve detailed technical planning on how to revert systems back to their normal state.
The sort of things you would need in a disaster recovery plan (DRP) would be as follows
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Setting a budget for disaster recovery.
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Which members of the team will have the responsibility of performing key roles and specific tasks in the disaster recovery strategy?
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How will you restore infrastructure and services to their normal operating state?
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Has the plan been tested?
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What experts and external teams will assist you in recovering your business following a disaster?
Main Challenges for Businesses With No Disaster Recovery Plan
Of course, creating a disaster recovery plan is not a legal requirement, although it is strongly recommended that you prepare such a document.
For those businesses that neglect to have a properly formed and tested disaster recovery plan, there could be several potential issues, including
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Significant data loss
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Legal ramifications
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Licences suspended
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Serious financial loss
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Reputational damage
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Downtime of operations
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Relationships affected with clients and suppliers
Can you Independently Create a Disaster Recovery or Business Continuity Plan Without External Help?
For many business owners and chief operating officers, a big question will be “Can I autonomously create a reliable BCP or disaster recovery plan without any help from outside parties or experts?”
There are several questions that business owners need to ask, including
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Have they had experience in creating a tried and tested BCP or DRP at this scale for this level of operation before?
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Will the business continuity or disaster recovery plan be fully effective and reliable?
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Are there any professional partners or entities that could assist with the planning and drafting of a BCP or DRP?
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What would be the costs involved if professional advice was not sought and something went wrong with the planning or some aspect of it failed in a real disaster?
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Will you be able to rigorously and comprehensively test the plan with your own facilities?
Selecting a Managed Service Provider for BCP and DRP
When choosing a managed service provider to assist you with the preparation and implementation of a BCP or DRP, you should look for a provider who offers all the aspects of IT Governance you will need to support you in your strategies, along with any additional services you may require such as cybersecurity solutions and cloud capabilities.
At Lyon Tech, our specialist IT governance experts can help with the preparation, analysis, and rigorous testing of any disaster recovery plan or business continuity plan.
We also provide a range of cutting-edge IT solutions for businesses, including
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Cloud solutions and data storage
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Desktop as a service
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Infrastructure as a service
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Virtual graphics processor unit platforms
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Dedicated cybersecurity management
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Data communications
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Staff awareness training
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24/7 help desk
If you are looking for professional guidance in drafting your business continuity plans or would like our experts to review your existing strategy and perform their analysis, get in touch with our team today.
No matter what stage you are in the process, our IT governance specialists can ensure that your disaster recovery and business continuity planning is reliable and effective, and will not fail you when you need it the most.
For any questions with regards to BCPs and DRPs, or any aspect of enhancing your business processes, contact our expert advisors today and we will be more than happy to provide further details.
