When a disaster strikes, organizations need to be prepared to react quickly and effectively. Recovery may be impossible without a disaster recovery plan with procedures in place. And staff need to be familiar with how to use it. A disaster recovery plan is a must for all organizations. It ensures that data and operations are up and running again as quickly as possible.
Even though many organizations have mechanisms in place like data backup, they are not helpful unless those mechanisms come with action. For example, where does that data backup live? How can it be accessed in a disaster? How is it used to restore operations? If there is a problem, there is no time to figure these things out. A practiced plan is critical.
What is Disaster Recovery?
Before creating a disaster recovery plan, all organizations must understand what disaster recovery is. To sum it up, disaster recovery is the ability to restore IT infrastructure and business operations after an incident.
Disasters aren’t only natural disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, floods or fire. Incidents could also be hardware failures, viruses and ransomware, power outages, or even human error.
Regardless of the reason the disaster happened, these incidents can bring even the best businesses down. Disaster recovery planning makes the difference between a company that fails and one that gets back to work.
Why a Disaster Recovery Plan is a Must for All Organizations
As shown above, companies without disaster recovery plans face an uphill battle getting back to work. Every minute is critical following a disaster. Those that are not ready to jump into action are losing business by the second. It is that predetermined disaster recovery plan that gives all organizations a road map to success.
One key thing to know is that disaster recovery planning is not only guidelines for finding data and how to restore it. Rather, a good disaster recovery plan is built on an analysis of the company, its processes, and what it needs for continuity. The daily operations inform these plans of an organization, business impacts, risk analysis, and objectives for recovery.
Ultimately, a disaster recovery plan is critical for all organizations. This is because it actively reduces downtime and minimizes damages. The sooner a business can get up and running again, the better its reputation and finances will fare.
What a Disaster Recovery Plan Should Include
In order to capture all of those vital elements of a disaster recovery plan, organizations should start at the top. It is important for management and other key decision-makers to have a say in what processes and components of an organization are crucial. That said, people at all levels should have an opportunity to weigh in. Ground-level staff often know the details best.
Management can set the recovery time objective and recovery point objective. These concepts refer to the speed of disaster recovery and how much it is okay to lose between a backup and a disaster. This ensures that, even if there is a disaster, a company can move forward with the least negative impact.
Further, a good disaster recovery plan covers the type of data and tech the firm needs to protect. And it covers any compliance needs for organizations dealing with sensitive data. It should also define what a disaster is, recovery objectives, insurance information, and any other useful definitions.
List all of the IT hardware and software, personnel responsible for disaster recovery and their roles, and highlight mission-critical applications and data. In general, it is a good idea to connect with suppliers and IT providers, such as a cloud computing service provider, in making these plans. Your suppliers may already have processes in place to help with backup strategies and restoration. If they have the tools and techniques available, organizations can save time and money by not duplicating existing planning.
Best Practices for Disaster Recovery Planning
For all organizations, there are a few ways to use a disaster recovery plan that will make it more successful. To start with, ensure to document the plan. Step by step instructions and charts may help. Then, review that plan often. This is especially important if the organization goes through any changes that would alter disaster recovery.
Test the plan, and the tech involved, regularly. If you rely on a certain piece of hardware for data backup, make sure that it functions as it should. Employees should train on disaster recovery planning as well.
Tor Technologies can help you develop and manage a Disaster Recovery plan for your business. Contact us for more information.