Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery are a group of concepts related to how a company is prepared to respond to major issues or disruptions. Best practices exist to help companies get their people, processes, and assets ready in case of an incident. These can apply to all industries but are especially relevant for businesses relying on IT services or other network and data tools. We at My Computing RX are equipped to help you get started with Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery and figure out what approach makes the most sense for your organization.
Responsibilities
In most organizations, the primary responsibility for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery processes will be held by the information technology department. The chief information officer (CIO) is often the individual in charge, although this responsibility could be delegated to another group or team. IT plays a key role in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery since the critical systems and data for most businesses operate on hardware, software, and networking. When any of these pieces fail, the company is at risk of halting operations and losing time and money.
Planning
The group and individual responsible for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery must make planning a priority. If no formal plan exists, then any sort of incident or outage will create chaos across the business. Official Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans should be drafted by the company’s local IT group and then reviewed and endorsed by stakeholders across the business, including executives. These plans hold no value unless they are agreed to ahead of time and understood by all relevant teams.
Within the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans, specific processes should be detailed that explain what needs to happen when a major incident or outage is detected. When possible, the plans should assign tasks and responsibilities to specific roles or teams, rather than using individual people’s names.
The plans need to cover all possible scenarios that could affect the organization’s computing systems and other key assets, such as facilities, paper records, and utilities. Disruptions can range from physical disasters, such as floods and fires, to cyber incidents, including hacking and other internet threats.
Responding to an Event
Communication is vital at the beginning of a major incident or disruption. The first person or team to recognize that a disaster has occurred should notify the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery leader as soon as possible. This leader is responsible for triggering the next set of events, which should include the evaluation of the disaster’s scope. Once it is clear what systems and assets are affected, the rest of the processes can be followed according to the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans. The primary goal during any disaster is to restore the business to normal operation levels, even if that means extreme actions must be taken.
Best Practices
Best practices for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery revolve around the concept of cloud computing. With cloud computing, companies can store their applications and data in a hosted environment rather than locate them in their own facilities or data centers. This way, data is better protected and less vulnerable to disasters. In addition, cloud computing platforms allow for global replication and other Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery solutions. Since cloud providers have data centers located all over the world, businesses can host their assets across a range of locations and quickly switch to a different one if a disaster occurs.