A disaster can wipe out your crucial business data. It can compromise your business operations, affect your employees, as well as damage the goodwill you hold in the market. Most companies that depend on IT equipment have a disaster recovery plan in place to ensure the best possible response in case of a disaster. Having an IT disaster recovery plan is an essential IT process – the possibility of a disaster that can completely derail your data or IT equipment cannot be overlooked. The disaster can happen without any signals or warning and hence the need for a comprehensive plan.
You may have a plan in place; however, you should check that your plan addresses the below pointers as well.
Does Disaster Recovery Plan analyse the impact a potential breach can have?
Before you begin formulating your disaster recovery plan, are you doing a comprehensive analysis of the problems that your business can face in case of any disaster?
While conducting a business impact analysis or BIA, make sure that every information system that is part of your business is included. This can also include systems that are outside the control of your business but will negatively impact your business if something goes wrong. Do put into perspective the high stakes that are involved in the event of a disaster.
Aim the business impact analysis towards identifying the availability, integrity and confidentiality of your information systems. It can help in setting up the correct priorities for your recovery plan since you know what is most important for running your business, smoothly and profitably.
Are you regularly updating your disaster recovery plan?
Before you begin updating your plan after a change is made to your information systems, are you mindful of changes that occur on every level?
Your plan should be abreast with all the equipment and software that is currently in use rather than the one that was in use when the plan was written. and it is crucial to ensure the effectiveness of your plan. Furthermore, new technologies and techniques may have become available since the last time that the disaster recovery plan was written. Implementing and using these technologies in your recovery plan will ensure that you quickly return to the status quo after a disaster.
Continuously updating your recovery plan can be a time-consuming process and you should do it with diligence and patience.
Have the responsibilities been assigned to the correct teams/individuals?
Before you begin creating or implementing an IT process, have you identified the ability of the teams and individuals to manage an IT disaster recovery plan?
The team to lead the disaster plan can either be an internal team involved in the projects day-to-day operations. Else, you can opt for companies and individuals who can come to your aid when the need arises. What you need to do is keep their updated contact details accessible to all project personnel so that the identified persons can be reached and informed quickly.
Further, make sure to include the approach you will adopt when dealing with all the stakeholders which may include authorities, clients, customers and business associates.
Conclusion
The quality of your IT disaster recovery plan can decide the continued success of your business. So, go back and cross-check the plan to make sure you are ready to handle the uncertainties in the best way possible.
Also read: Approaches to Protect Your Company’s Data
