Over the last few years global ransomware attacks have caused significant downtime for many business’, exposing serious flaws in their IT security. Many believe that cybercrime is the biggest threat that companies across the globe will face, with cybercrime reports predicting that it will cost over £8 trillion per year by 2025. Yet approximately a third of all businesses have no business continuity or contingency plans in place.
To help you better protect your business, here’s your quick guide to:
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- What a disaster recovery plan is and how it works
- Exploring why businesses don’t have a disaster recovery plan
- How to create your own disaster recovery plan
- Understanding what Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is and how it can support your business
What is a disaster recovery plan, and how does it work?
Disaster recovery (DR) is a critical aspect of business continuity planning. It involves creating a comprehensive and well-documented plan that outlines the steps an organisation must take in the event of unforeseeable incidents such as natural disasters, power outages, cyber-attacks, and any other disruptive events.
The primary objective of a DR plan is to minimise the impact of these incidents and ensure that a company can continue to operate or quickly resume its key operations after an event.
Without a disaster recovery plan, you could be putting your business at significant financial risk if an incident occurs. Every second counts, calculate how much a disaster could cost your business using our downtime calculator now.
The impact of not having a disaster recovery plan
No business is immune to disaster. Not having a disaster recovery plan can have serious consequences for businesses of all sizes.
Without a plan in place, companies are at risk of suffering significant financial loss due to prolonged IT downtime, as a result of disrupted operations. Just few short minutes of downtime can be detrimental and prevent businesses from fulfilling customer orders, providing their services, and meeting crucial deadlines.
This can very easily leave customers dissatisfied, causing reputational damage and result in a loss of both customers and revenue. It’s essential for businesses to prioritise disaster recovery planning and therefore minimise the impact of any potential disasters.
Why don’t more businesses have a disaster recovery plan?
Despite the importance of having a disaster recovery plan in today’s digital age, many businesses still do not have one. This is because companies often believe that:
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- A disaster is unlikely, so it won’t happen to them
- Investing in something that isn’t needed 99.99% of the time is a waste of resource
- They’ve been backing up data to hardware, such as external hard drives and tape, for years and don’t need to change
However, every business is at risk of an attack from cyber criminals, who can bring even those with sophisticated DR setups to a grinding halt.
In order to protect your company, businesses of all sizes should have a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. To discover the potential impact they may have on your business, and possible threats, view the infographic below.
Disaster Recovery: Think you’ve got it covered? Think again!
Creating a Disaster Recover plan: A step-by-step guide
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- Risk assessment. Identify the potential disasters that could disrupt your business’ operations, such as natural disasters, cyber-attacks, and power outages
- Business impact analysis. Determine the impact each disaster could have on your company’s operations, finances, and reputation
- Develop a recovery strategy. Create a detailed plan to recover from every potential disaster. The plan should include strategies for recovering critical systems, data, and infrastructure. This can be done either internally, or with a trusted partner
- Assign responsibilities. Assign specific responsibilities to team members for executing the recovery plan, and make sure that everyone understands their role. If you choose to work with a third party provider, this may be carried out by an external team
- Test and validate the plan. Regularly test the plan to identify any weaknesses and make necessary updates
- Communication and documentation. Clearly communicate the plan to all internal and external stakeholders, and make sure that it is well documented and easily accessible to those who need it
- Training and awareness. Provide training to all employees on the disaster recovery plan, their roles, and responsibilities in the event of a disaster
- Review and update the plan. Regularly review and update your disaster recovery plan to ensure it remains relevant and effective in the face of changing business needs and risks
By following these steps, your business can create a robust disaster recovery plan that minimises the impact of disasters and ensures the continuity of your operations.
What is Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)?
Disaster Recovery as a Service is a cloud-based solution that provides businesses with the ability to recover their data in the event of a disaster. This service typically includes the backup, replication, and storage of critical data, as well as the processes and technologies required to recover the data in the event of an interruption or loss.
The goal of DRaaS is to minimise the impact of data loss and ensure that companies can quickly restore their data and systems in the event of a disaster.
DRaaS is a cost-effective alternative to traditional disaster recovery solutions, as it eliminates the need for businesses to invest in expensive hardware, software, and IT personnel. With DRaaS, companies can leverage the expertise of a third-party provider to manage their disaster recovery needs, while reducing the risk of data loss and improving their overall business continuity.
Data recovery solutions can conform to a set of Recovery Point Objective (RPO)/Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) rules to ensure recovery from a major outage of systems is automated in an appropriate time frame.
Creating your business’ disaster recovery plan
A disaster recovery plan is an essential aspect of any business’s risk management strategy. It enables companies to be prepared for and respond to unforeseen incidents that can interfere with regular operations and cause significant damage to people, assets, and activities.
A properly-constructed disaster recovery plan should take into account the unique risks and vulnerabilities of the company, as well as its objectives, resources, and priorities. By incorporating a clear and thorough plan for data backup and recovery with communication and evacuation procedures and response and recovery measures, companies can reduce downtime and guarantee a quick return to normal operations in the event of a disaster.
It’s crucial for companies to invest in developing and testing a comprehensive disaster recovery plan, either in house or with a DRaaS Managed Service provider, to ensure the ongoing success and resilience of their activities.
No business is immune from disaster
Discover how much a data disaster could cost your business using our downtime calculator now.
