The Importance of Having a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan

Being optimistic in business is good, but being realistic is better. You might not want to think about the worst scenario that can happen to your business, but accidents and disasters occur all the time.
Critical incidents can be a natural calamity, cyber attack, a technical glitch or a tremendous error on part of an employee; events like this can result in serious setbacks for the business. During times like this, having a disaster recovery and business continuity plan is essential.

If you have backed up your business records in a cloud or any other storage, you may think that is a sufficient disaster recovery and business continuity plan. However, there is much more than you need to consider. Keep reading to find out why a thorough disaster recovery and business continuity plan is a must for all businesses.

What is Disaster Recovery?

Disaster recovery sounds very much like what it is – a process that helps a business recover if and when a disaster occurs. It refers to a type of contingency planning with the goal of protecting the organization from the harmful effects of any unfavorable event that may occur. These events may include data loss due to power outages and cyber attacks, as well as natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

What is a Business Continuity Plan?

A business continuity plan, also called a resiliency plan, refers to developing and implementing policies and procedures that help a business continue their operations during a critical situation. This includes training employees so that they know how to restore data from backup storage or a data center, and how to maintain a good customer service during the interruption.

The Importance of Having a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan

Did you know that one out in three businesses today has experienced some form of disaster that required a backup or contingency plan?
If this isn’t alarming enough to motivate you to create your own business continuity plan, here are three reasons that highlight the importance of data recovery and resiliency planning.

  1. A plan significantly reduces data restoration time – by having a disaster recovery and business continuity plan, you will lower the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) as you focus only on tasks that will require immediate action in case an unforeseen event occurs.
  2. A plan minimizes interruptions and keeps critical processes going – every business has some functions that must continue under any circumstances. A data recovery and business continuity plan help you continue to operate despite (and during) critical incidents.
  3. A plan improves the company’s reputation – a data breach can tarnish your brand image because customers may lose trust in the company’s ability to protect their personal information.

Do You Have a Data Recovery and Business Continuity Plan in 2019?

As the number and severity of cyber threats continue to rise, you need a data recovery and business continuity plan that will protect your business from any possible harm. Creating a backup in a data center in Toronto is a good first step to ensure that your business operates continuously, and thrives no matter what dangers may present themselves in the digital world.