Benjamin Franklin wisely observed, “If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This maxim rings especially true in today’s digital economy, where the critical infrastructure that’s responsible for processing transactions, managing data, and facilitating communications is expected to be online and available to users on a 24x7x365 basis.
So when things go bump in the night – be it a natural disaster, a ransomware attack, or a technical snafu – IT leaders need to be assured that their IT infrastructure is resilient enough to withstand all manner of disruptions and be able to quickly bring their services and data back online as quickly as possible. In the latest installment of our SC//Insights series, our product experts delve deep into the strategies and best practices for building and maintaining a fully resilient IT infrastructure.
But before diving in, the first question that needs to be addressed is also one of the most common yet misunderstood questions in this discipline, What’s the difference between Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery? Of course, business continuity and disaster recovery represent different sides of the same coin. While business continuity is all about ensuring that your operations keep humming along no matter what disruptions come your way, disaster recovery zeroes in on the steps and strategies needed to get your IT systems back on track after they've taken a hit. Think of it like this: business continuity is like having a backup generator to keep the lights on during a storm, while disaster recovery is the repair crew that fixes the power line.
Plan for the unforeseen. Recover when you need.
A sound disaster recovery plan should also work hand-in-hand with a business continuity plan, offering clear methods, actions, and resources to restore IT systems, applications, and data after a disruption. It might employ several strategies such as data replication, off-site backup storage, virtualization, and cloud-based solutions. When taken together, these symbiotic strategies help to ensure reduced downtime, minimize data loss, and maintain customer trust.
Of course, building a comprehensive plan that meets the demanding requirements of all stakeholders is an undertaking of its own. Building a Reliable IT Disaster Recovery Plan gets down to the brass tacks by examining some of the key requirements that go into ensuring your disaster recovery plan is both robust and actionable. From assessing your organization's unique needs and potential vulnerabilities to integrating cutting-edge technologies and solutions, today’s IT leaders need not only a plan that provides peace of mind in the face of uncertainties but also aligns seamlessly with their business goals and objectives.
We also explore the many interlocking elements that are part and parcel of a comprehensive disaster recovery plan – from articulating recovery objectives and defining stakeholder roles to mapping out efficient communication channels and infrastructure documentation. It's also essential to select the right technology and tools, designate an incident response process, and regularly update the plan and test its efficacy.
For more information about how your business can be more resilient, read the Essential Guide to Backup Disaster Recovery and Preparation white paper or contact us on how we can help you with BCDR Planning.
