Disaster strikes in many forms, from malicious insiders to inclement weather. While a systems failure might not topple every business, for most, it is critical that functionality be restored immediately. To ensure business continuity and minimize loss from unexpected disasters, organizations must implement a disaster recovery plan (DRP).

The goals of a DRP are to minimize interruptions to normal business operations, limit damage and loss, establish an alternate means to conduct business efficiently, train personnel to respond to incidents, and provide the groundwork to restore service as quickly as possible. All of these objectives are possible with the right communication, documentation, and testing.

Establishing an official, written communication plan will ensure management can maintain contact with employees in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Ambiguity is the bane of a DRP. Each task, and the steps to complete it, must be clearly documented. For instance, if a restore script must be run, then document the exact commands and file path to avoid confusion and delays.

Testing is the only way to guarantee that a DRP truly works. Compare the organization’s defined recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) metrics to the results of each test to determine if the DRP needs improvement.

Contact Securance to learn more about constructing a DRP tailored to your business.