Business Continuity and the Disaster Recovery Plan
A Backup Article Contributed by Melissa Larose
Business Continuity and the Disaster Recovery Plan
Disaster recovery, the term brings to mind hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and fires and the plan to return normalcy. But disaster recovery is much more than cleaning up the visual effects of a disaster. Disaster recovery requires forethought and planning prior to the actual event. SO much forethought and planning that most people just choose to believe that it can never happen to them. And that's where they go wrong.
From your home to your business all areas should be considered when planning for the future possibility of a disaster. How will you continue moving forward when faced with destruction of your property, your business assets, and your critical data?
The Disaster Recovery Plan at Work
The continuation of business environments after a disaster can mean the difference between survival and sure demise. Disasters can happen at any time and in numerous ways. A computer virus alone can wipe out a whole company and its data if not caught and removed in ample time. Your employees and your customers deserve the forethought of a disaster recovery plan.
Some businesses fall into the critical business sector where disaster of one company can truly mean disaster for all its customers, employees, and the community at large. These business sectors fall into the financial services and health care categories. Destruction of these businesses, if blindsided by disaster, can cripple the continuity of a city, state, or portion of commerce as a whole.
Disaster Recovery Plan for Continuity
Assessment and review should be the constant companion of business. Without assessment and review a business cannot know where they fit into the scheme of commerce, what they need to do to stay afloat, and what changes have taken place or are coming down the pike with new operation and regulatory requirements. Mitigation of risks and threat assessment rest squarely on the shoulders of business and in the ever increasing complexity of IT and networking environments it is demand of business to know and foresee possible disaster.
Continuity requires the consideration of whole management teams and their fellow employees. The decisions to be made in regards to continuity need to be made from the wide knowledge gained through every day contact with the business processes and procedures. In addition, a clear understanding of your customer and their needs should be reviewed as well. What do the customers expect and what needs to continue to be in place in order to provide service to them and the community?
Everyone Must Be Aware of the Disaster Recovery Plan
Everyone involved with the daily routine of a business must be made aware of the disaster recovery plan itself. From identifying who is in charge of what aspect of disaster recovery to requesting emergency information of every employee to clear backup and recovery plan of your data, if the plan is not made available to the staff, it is useless. Your staff is your lifeline to your customer and if your staff doesn't understand what needs to happen your business may or may not continue on.
Drilling your employees on response to disaster and informing them of what is expected in a recovery plan just makes sense.
