A Comprehensive Guide to IT Disaster Recovery Plans

Every organization, from small, independent businesses to the largest enterprises, increasingly depends on digital technologies to provide services, support customers, and generate revenue. In such a fast-paced, interconnected business climate, it’s imperative that organizations have IT disaster recovery plans ready. These strategies and responses are focused on business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) so that companies can remain operational in the event of an outage, natural disaster, or cyberattack.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll look closer at the importance of BCDR and the critical role IT plays in keeping your business running during an unexpected outage or other unforeseen circumstance. We’ll also be looking at how to build a BCDR plan properly and the impact that cloud-based disaster recovery can play in keeping your business running and your data safe and secure during a crisis event.

What Is Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery?

An organization’s ability to remain operational after an outage relies heavily on interrelated business continuity and disaster recovery procedures. The goal of a BCDR plan—which encourages collaboration between IT and operations teams—is to limit risk and digital vulnerability while getting an organization back to running as normally as possible after an unexpected interruption.

These practices not only reduce the risk of data loss and decrease the chance of an emergency situation, but by embracing a robust BCDR plan, you can bolster your organization’s long-term reputation as well.

Let’s take a closer look at each separately:

Business Continuity – BC refers to the processes and procedures an organization must implement to ensure that essential functions and operations stay running in the event of disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes, or technological interruptions caused by cyberattacks, data breaches, or system crashes. This involves comprehensive ,proactive planning that is geared toward long-term challenges to an organization’s success.

Disaster Recovery – DR is more reactive than BC and consists of the specific steps an organization needs to take to restore its IT systems after a disruptive event. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity, and the planning concentrates specifically on accessing data following a disaster or other unplanned outage.

What Is the Role of IT in BCRD?

Information Technology (IT) is critical in maintaining business continuity, as it assumes responsibility for essential operations such as data storage, communication, and application delivery. Without a dependable IT infrastructure, organizations would be incapable of sustaining crucial functions during and after catastrophic events.

There are four main components that encompass IT infrastructure, each bearing immense significance in maintaining business continuity and assisting with disaster recovery strategies.

Hardware – Servers, storage devices, laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and other pieces of hardware are particularly susceptible to damage or destruction during a calamity. That’s why it’s important to adopt hardware redundancy strategies, such as having backup servers ready in the event of failure.

Software – Similar to hardware, having redundant operating systems, applications, and databases can also help preserve essential functions in the face of software-related setbacks.

Networks – The backbone of IT infrastructure lies within networks, such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and the internet. Disruptions that interrupt the networks can result in communication breakdowns and the loss of critical resources.

Facilities: This is a physical location housing the IT infrastructure. Ensuring that you have backup facilities and redundant server rooms to handle primary functions in an emergency can safeguard your organization against losing IT services during facility-related challenges.

Why Is a BCRD Plan So Important?

While disaster recovery is often an established function in many IT departments with respect to individual systems, BCDR is much broader than just IT, and it encompasses a range of facets, including employee safety, crisis management, and establishing alternative worksites.

Here’s a full rundown of all the ways in which having a business continuity and disaster recovery plan is critical for your organization:

• Minimize Downtime: No matter whether due to natural disasters, cyberattacks, hardware failures, or other unforeseen events, disruptions to digital services can lead to significant downtime. Having a well-prepared BCDR plan ensures that critical functions continue during and after a disaster, minimizing the impact on operations.
• Protecting Revenue and Profits: Extended downtime equals revenue loss, missed sales opportunities, and potentially even contractual or regulatory penalties. A BCDR plan will help mitigate financial losses by allowing organizations to maintain operations and meet commitments in the case of disruption.
• Preserving Customer Trust and Brand Reputation: How an organization responds during a crisis, particularly in terms of its business continuity and disaster recovery, proves to customers that they can rely on that company for consistent service and support, thereby enhancing their brand reputation and public image in the process.
• Business Resilience: The ability to bounce back from unexpected disruptions, especially in the supply chain, illustrates to investors and stakeholders (and competitors) that your organization is resilient, reliable, and capable of maintaining critical functions and communication.
• Swift Recovery of Data: In today’s digital age, there’s not an asset more critical to an organization than its data. Being able to recover that data during an outage quickly is essential on a number of levels, not the least of which is the potential legal and financial issues that can arise if customer data is compromised.
• Improve Management and Decision Making: A well thought-out BCDR plan won’t prepare an organization for every potential outage or disaster, but by providing a structured framework and guiding actions in times of crisis, a BCDR plan will reduce stress and improve decision-making during times of crisis.
• Improve Employee Safety and Confidence: Knowing that their organization is prepared for the unknown and has a plan in place for evacuations, communication, and remote work during a disaster can go a long way in boosting employee security and confidence in their organization.

Disaster Recovery IT Solutions: Building a BCDR Plan

Building a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy that ensures business continuity during a disaster or outage is one of the most important tasks you can undertake as an organization.

Here are 10 keys to building an effective BCDR plan:

1. Identify and assess any risks or threats that could disrupt operations, including natural disasters, cyberattacks, hardware failures, etc.
2. Determine what the potential impact each risk could have on different aspects of your organization.
3. Prioritize the risks based on their severity and potential impact.
4. Develop strategies and the steps that will be essential in both business continuity and disaster recovery.
5. Allocate the necessary resources for personnel, technology, and infrastructure necessary to implement the strategies developed.
6. Establish a clear communication plan to make sure that all invested parties—employees, stakeholders, and customers—are informed during disruptions.
7. Train employees on their roles and responsibilities during a disaster or outage.
8.  Regularly test your BCDR plan by running through simulations and drills to identify gaps and areas of improvement.
9. Document every aspect of the BCDR plan, including procedures, contacts, and technical details.
10. Continually review and update your BCDR plan to regularly account for any changes in technology, operations, and potential risks.

Cloud-Based Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Support

Though essential, a BCDR plan alone is not enough to protect your business completely and ensure its continuity. More than just having access to data, an IT disaster recovery plan is a complete process that requires you to contemplate multiple scenarios. How long can your company go without email? What would it cost your operation to be unable to service clients? What would it do to workplace productivity?

You can take the stress out of the equation by investing in a cloud-based backup for your business. External storage options are available, such as hard drives and flash drives, but they require time and effort to update and can easily be stolen or lost. Additionally, while backup software and file sync solutions can be helpful, larger businesses need something much more robust and reliable. That’s why a cloud-based system such as that offered by Computer Resources of America is so helpful, allowing you to store a copy on the cloud and access it whenever you need it. And in the instance that a disaster or cyberattack causes data loss or corruption, you’re able to restore it and avoid an IT crisis.

With cloud-based backup from CRA, and an efficient and tested BCDR plan, you can stay one step ahead of a disaster and assume control in the event of an outage by tapping into features such as:

• Image-based backup and cloud replication for complete server protection
• Multiple IT disaster recovery options to minimize downtime
• Ability to restore anything from a single file to a complete machine
• Holistic recovery time objectives
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of minutes for a nearly early instant operational restore
• Comprehensive integrations and reporting to reduce administrative burden
• Compliant data centers and military-grade security that exceed industry standards

Click here to learn more about how Computer Resources of America can bolster your organization’s IT disaster recovery plans, or reach out today for full-service IT support!