It sounds self-explanatory, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. Yes, a business continuity and disaster recovery plan – usually referred to as BCDR – is one that helps an organization recover from disasters and keeps it running afterward. But, how do you put that in the context of your business operation?
A little narrative here.
In November 2016, a malware attack was launched at a network of hospitals in the UK. The virus wiped out patients’ data, crippled systems, and halted operations at three separate hospitals for five whole days. As a result, more than 2,800 patient procedures and appointments were canceled. After the event, the hospitals were evaluated and reported to have had no disaster recovery and business continuity plan available.
With a BCDR plan, the hospitals would have been able to restore patient data which is critical to running diagnosis and completing other hospital operations, retain their flow of customers at the time, and reduce financial losses. I guess that puts it in perspective.
Now, here are a few things you should know about business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
You will need them regardless of the size of the disaster.
Events as huge and unsettling as the pandemic or other natural disasters can cause several disruptions to business operations. However, there are other seemingly smaller events that could also have surprisingly massive and depleting impacts on businesses. These events could range from service downtimes to cyber-attacks, IT system crashes, and other interruptions.
In the event of such disasters, – however big or small – a BCDR plan considers the importance of protecting financial, customer, and product/service data as well as applications and systems that need to be up to ensure smooth business operations and reduce losses of all kinds.
It cushions the effect of planned and unanticipated outages.
Whether an outage is anticipated or unexpected, the BC/DR plan plays a major role in cushioning its effect and improving recovery time.
There is no one-size-fits-all BCDR plan.
A BCDR plan is a detailed fail-safe strategy that is designed to fit into the unique operation module of a business. The details can vary greatly depending on the size and scope of the business. Hence, it is important to speak to disaster recovery experts when attempting to develop a BCDR plan for your business.
Need a BCDR plan, we can fix you up. Send a request to hi@descasio.io.
