Disaster Recovery Planning

Disaster Recovery Matrix (Photo credit: IvanWalsh.com)

Many businesses do not have a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP); and the ones that do, do not periodically update it or verify its accuracy, leading to an outdated and ineffective plan.

This is a sad but true fact. Most businesses do not have a DRP plan because they either don’t see the benefit of having one or do not want to spend the time or energy to put one together.

In its simplest form a DRP is a document outlining all the necessary steps for a business to recover its data and operations in case of a disaster. The word ‘disaster’ here is an industry term, which in fact can also mean smaller scale incidents, such as data loss, equipment theft, server malfunction, malicious activities etc.

At a very minimum, a DRP has important information and key resources that any company needs following a disaster. This includes, but is not limited to: insurance policies, emergency contacts for employees, vendor and customer contact information, offsite data backup, backup site/office, cash and similar payment arrangements.

The plan should also outline the different disaster scenarios and the risks they represent as well as the mitigation actions proper to each scenario. A building fire disaster scenario is very different from a data loss scenario.

In the former case different possibilities you have to explore include: will the office be accessible or will it be deemed unsafe to use, if we can’t get into our office how can we then recover our data and build a backup site?

If we’re dealing with the data loss scenario we have to consider whether the current hardware is adequate for recovery purposes or will we need to buy new hardware? What is the average time to recovery in this case? Can the business continue to run during the recovery phase?

Every business is different and unique and there’s no cookie-cutter approach to design a DRP that works for all businesses. We also can help you in assessing your business preparedness and give you the proper solutions to help you build a solid plan. If you need help with this please call us at 01494 857572 or email www.oswin.com/contact and we’ll be glad to help you.