If you’re a business owner or a manager, then you’re probably familiar with the term “Business Continuity.” A Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is an outline or a document that details the steps to keep a business running in the event of a service disruption. Simply put, it’s a broad-perspective overview of how to continue doing business! You may be less familiar with the term “Business Disaster Recovery Plan,” but it’s equally as important.
What is a Disaster Recovery (DR) plan? Just like a BCP, this is a document or an outline that contains detailed instructions on how to respond to unplanned incidents. These can be anything from natural disasters and power outages to cyber attacks. This is a more specific and targeted plan than a BCP, but equally as important!
Disruptions can lead to loss of revenue due to downtime. They can also cause damage to your brand and customer dissatisfaction. A good DR plan should emphasize rapid recovery, regardless of the cause of the disruption. There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to Disaster Recovery Plans.
Every business and their operations are different, so they’ll need different strategies. However, there are some staple elements that every DR plan should have, and we’ll cover those in more detail below.
1. Data Backup & Recovery
A good data backup and recovery system is key to keeping your business information safe from all types of threats. Malware, ransomware, and regular old human error can pose a danger to your data. It’s also important to remember that compromised data doesn’t just impact your business. It can also have serious impacts on your customers. We’ve covered the importance of a solid data protection plan in the past. This information is just as important today as it was last year!
If your business uses a Managed Service Provider, your data is already most likely already being backed up on a regular basis. Ideally, you should backup your data at least once daily. However it’s a good idea to consider more frequent updates depending on your type of business. Otherwise, you could be at risk of losing all of the data, information updates, or transactions that happened since your last backup.
2. Physical Disaster Recovery Strategy
The next crucial element of a business Disaster Recovery Plan is an emergency response checklist. This should be a physical document that outlines the emergency response procedures when dealing with a natural disaster, fire, or any other hazardous scenarios. It should also include an outline for backup operational procedures to ensure that essential data processing can continue through and after the disruption. Finally, it should include recovery action procedures that can help quickly restore your data processing systems after a disaster.
If this sounds like a lot to manage, it’s because it is! No need to stress, though. If you’re a small business owner, there are plenty of resources available online to help you create an effective disaster recovery plan. IBM created a free online guide that can walk you through your DR plan step by step. If you already HAVE a plan in place, it’s worth it to give it another once over and make sure it’s up to date.
These two elements together do not compromise a full Disaster Recovery plan, but they are integral facets that every good plan should include. Most Managed Service Providers (like SimplicIT) can help you create and implement the right plan for your business. Can call us any time at 208-326-3800, or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.
