In the wake of recent disasters, businesses are paying more attention to bolstering their business continuity and disaster recovery strategies. This is important because these plans can help limit downtime and disruption in the event of a catastrophic risk event. DR plans are mainly data-focused, and concentrate on having adequate backups and easy access to them following a disaster. BC includes this aspect, as well as risk management and other planning an organization needs to stay afloat during a crisis. Resilience Resilience is the ability to recover quickly and effectively from a company’s business disruptions. This ability can help reduce operational, cybersecurity, and efficiency losses. Resilience planning requires a long-term focus. It’s difficult to maintain a strategic perspective when your team is focused on day-to-day tasks, but building resilience into your business culture can help you prepare for the unexpected. Developing a resilience strategy requires thorough risk assessments, clear response protocols within a comprehensive continuity plan, and ongoing testing and updates. It also requires a collaborative approach, which can lead to improved outcomes in the event of a disaster. Consider it like a video game: When you’re in the final boss battle and the game crashes, you want to be able to save your progress or even restart from the beginning, rather than losing all of your hard work. In a similar way, you need to be resilient in order to maintain your operations and preserve your customer trust and reputation. Recovery The goal of business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) is to protect the safety and security of employees, minimize disruptions to critical business functions and enable an organization to recover quickly from a crisis. It also enables a business to protect data and reopen operations as soon as possible. A successful BCDR plan must include a robust initial response, relocation and a detailed plan for recovery. It must be communicated to team members, including their roles and responsibilities. The plan must also be easily accessible and updated regularly. A good BCDR plan must be cost-effective, Ton said. It should consider the expected financial impact of a disaster scenario, such as the impact of an unplanned shutdown. This will help an organization make informed BCDR investment decisions. Organizations seeking to improve their BCDR practices can turn to various resources, including industry standards, tools ranging from templates to software products and advisory services. Organizations can also attend conferences and obtain professional certifications in the field. Contingency Nowadays business leaders have zero tolerance for operational downtime, whether it’s caused by human error or a natural disaster. As a result, every self-respecting organization needs a well-developed and tested business continuity plan or disaster recovery strategy in place. Both are proactive strategies that help businesses prepare for sudden, cataclysmic events. A good BCDR plan minimizes risk and ensures that key support systems can be restored quickly and without data loss. It also helps a company respond to an incident in a way that protects employees, customers, facilities and the brand. Collaboration Whether you’re trying to meet deadlines or keep projects moving forward, data collaboration is key to success. The best way to do this is by encouraging a culture of teamwork and providing employees with tools they can use. The best business continuity and disaster recovery plans include failover mechanisms. This involves storing data in multiple locations and keeping it in sync, which protects the organization from downtime or loss of critical information. For example, disk mirroring is a technique that stores up-to-date copies of data in geographically dispersed locations, so they can be accessed even if one location goes down. Another key step in a BCDR plan is conducting a business impact analysis. This allows the organization to identify its most critical functions and processes, as well as potential threats or vulnerabilities. The BIA can also reveal opportunities for process improvement and ways to improve technology. This process can be conducted manually or using software.
