Data and technology form the backbone of nearly every organization in our digital-first environment. From customer records to financial systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and cloud-based collaboration tools, IT systems are integral to smooth day-to-day operations.
When an IT disaster strikes, whether due to hardware failure, cyber attacks, natural disasters, or human error, the consequences can be devastating. Organizations without a robust plan risk losing critical data, suffering reputational damage, and facing costly downtime.
Together, disaster recovery and business continuity plans offer a comprehensive strategy for resilience. Disaster recovery is focused on restoring IT systems and data, while business continuity ensures that the organization as a whole continues operating despite disruptions.
What’s the Difference Between Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery?
Business continuity and disaster recovery go hand-in-hand, and are often abbreviated as (BCDR). Some organizations define them slightly differently, but all definitions hold commonalities.
Often used as a name for a larger strategic exercise, a Business Continuity Plan is the overarching strategy and processes that encompass all aspects of the business. Its goal is to prevent interruptions to critical functions during and after a disruption. This includes supply chain resilience, communication, customer service, and workforce management.
Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity that specifically addresses restoring IT systems, networks, and data. Disaster recovery plans typically detail recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs).
A Business Continuity plan must include technology-focused disaster recovery elements to be effective and contribute to operational resilience.
Conduct a Business Impact Analysis
The first step in building continuity with disaster recovery is understanding what matters. A business impact analysis (BIA) identifies:
- Critical business functions and their dependence on IT systems
- The financial and operational impact of downtime for each function
- The maximum acceptable outage period before severe consequences occur
For example, a hospital patient’s monitoring systems may only tolerate seconds of downtime, while payroll processing may withstand a day or two. When you prioritize functions, you can allocate resources according to the most urgent needs.
Define Recovery Objectives
Once the impact is clear, you have to set RTOs and RPOs:
- An RTO is the maximum amount of time a system or function can be down before it disrupts business significantly.
- An RPO is the maximum age of files or data that must be recovered from backup to resume normal operations.
These metrics inform your selection of backup solutions, redundancy strategies, and recovery tools. For example, a financial trading firm may require near-zero RPO with real-time replication, but a retail store may find daily backups sufficient.
Build Redundancy into IT Systems
Continuity during IT recovery depends heavily on redundancy. Some key strategies include:
- Regular, automated backups are stored offsite or in the cloud. Following the 3-2-1 rule – 3 copies of data, on 2 different media, with 1 stored offsite – offers robust protection.
- High availability (HA), or architecting systems with failover capabilities, so if one server or data center fails, another automatically takes over.
- Leveraging cloud providers’ geographically distributed infrastructure can reduce downtime risks significantly.
- Redundancy ensures that business functions can continue operating while primary systems are being restored.
Establish a Communication Plan
During a disaster, uncertainty and poor communication can amplify the damage. A continuity-focused disaster recovery strategy should include:
- Internal communication with clear protocols for notifying employees about the incident, expected downtime, and instructions for alternate workflows.
- External communication with pre-drafted templates and processes for updating customers, vendors, and stakeholders about service disruptions.
- Multi-channel approach with email, phone trees, SMS, and intranet updates to ensure messages reach everyone, even if one channel is down.
Train and Test Regularly
A plan on paper isn’t enough. It has to be actionable. Employees should be trained on their roles during a disaster scenario. Regular drills, tabletop exercises, and full recovery simulations help you to:
- Validate that recovery procedures meet RTO and RPO goals.
- Identify bottlenecks or gaps in workflows.
- Build confidence among staff to act decisively during real incidents.
Testing also ensures the plan evolves alongside changing technologies and business priorities.
Consider Third-Party Dependencies
Modern businesses rely on third-party vendors and service providers, including SaaS platforms, financial intermediaries, and supply chain vendors. Business continuity planning needs to assess vendor disaster recovery capabilities, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for uptime and recovery, and contingency plans if a vendor fails to meet obligations.
For example, if a payment processor experiences downtime, does the business have an alternate provider or a manual workaround? Accounting for external risks is just as critical as internal ones.
Integrate Cybersecurity into Recovery
With cyber attacks, particularly ransomware, ranking among the leading causes of IT disasters, cybersecurity and recovery need to be integrated. This may include immutable backups that cannot be altered or encrypted by attackers, incident response playbooks aligned with disaster recovery procedures, and regular penetration testing and vulnerability scanning to find weaknesses.
This integration makes sure that recovery is focused on not just restoring systems but addressing the cause of the compromise to develop more robust cybersecurity measures for the future.
Embrace Flexibility and Remote Work
The pandemic highlighted the importance of flexibility in continuity planning. Organizations with established remote work infrastructure – or the ability to adapt quickly – were better positioned to maintain operations.
- Continuity during IT recovery can be supported by:
- Cloud-based collaboration tools like Google Workspace and Teams
- Virtual desktops and secure VPNs to access company systems remotely
- Policies for securely using personal devices during downtime
- A flexible workforce can keep operations running even when primary offices or systems are inaccessible.
Maintain Documentation and Governance
Every step of the disaster recovery and business continuity process should be documented in detail with step-by-step procedures, contact lists for key personnel and vendors, and escalation paths for decision-making.
Governance frameworks like Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), ISO 22301, or NIST guidelines offer additional structure and accountability. Regular audits ensure that your business is compliant and ready.
Prepare for Disaster and Learn for the Future
IT disasters can be inevitable, but prolonged disruption doesn’t have to be. Including disaster recovery in your holistic business continuity strategy helps you protect critical operations, preserve customer trust, and minimize financial losses.
Author Bio Information
Nazy Fouladirad is President and COO of Tevora, a global leading cybersecurity consultancy. She has dedicated her career to creating a more secure business and online environment for organizations across the country and world. She is passionate about serving her community and acts as a board member for a local nonprofit organization.
