Every business faces IT failures. The difference between a minor disruption and a major crisis is almost always whether a business continuity plan exists and has been tested. Here’s how to build one.
Business Continuity vs. Disaster Recovery
These terms are often used interchangeably but mean different things. Business continuity planning (BCP) covers how you keep operations running during a disruption. Disaster recovery (DR) covers how you restore IT systems after a failure. Both are necessary — DR is a component of BCP, not a substitute for it.
Start With a Business Impact Analysis
A business impact analysis (BIA) identifies which systems and processes are most critical to your operations and what the financial and operational impact of disruption would be. The BIA answers two key questions for each critical function: what is your Recovery Time Objective (RTO — how long can this be down?) and your Recovery Point Objective (RPO — how much data loss is acceptable?). These drive your technical recovery requirements.
Define Your Recovery Procedures
For each critical system, document step-by-step recovery procedures that any competent IT professional could follow. These procedures should be stored somewhere accessible even if your primary systems are down — a printed binder, a cloud document accessible from a personal device. Recovery procedures that live only in the heads of specific individuals are a single point of failure.
Test Your Plan Annually
An untested BCP is a false sense of security. Run tabletop exercises where your team walks through recovery scenarios. For critical systems, conduct actual failover tests to verify that recovery procedures work as documented. Fix what breaks. Update the plan. The goal is a plan you’re confident will work under pressure.