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| 05 | 2006 |
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| Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery |
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With the increasing reliance of most business practices on technology, many are driven to create a disaster recovery plan based solely on IT data and functions. However, disaster recovery and data protection are merely smaller segments under the umbrella of business continuity planning.
Every business should have a comprehensive business continuity plan that is distributed, tested, analyzed and updated regularly. Following 9/11 and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 tsunami in Asia, as well as epidemics such as SARS and the new risk of Bird Flu, most businesses have moved disaster recovery planning to the top of their task list. In a 2005 survey conducted by Hewlett-Packard, they found a “73% increase in the view that natural disasters are an extreme threat to businesses.” Unfortunately, despite the increase in awareness, “at least one-fourth of all businesses that close because of a disaster never reopen,” according to the Institute for Business & Home Safety. Small and medium-sized business are particularly vulnerable because many lack the resources and financing to take on such an endeavor. But the fact is, a business continuity plan acts as an insurance policy for any size business.
Following is a checklist to help you prepare your business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) plan.
1. Determine who will be in charge of the BC plan and who will be on the team.
For larger companies and organizations, one member from each department and location should be an active participant and report to the designated BC manager.
2. Identify the top 10 potential disasters that could affect your business, and develop a plan for each.
Examples include: fire, natural disasters relative to your location, terrorist attacks, disease and social unrest. According to Cisco’s Disaster Recovery: Best Practices White Paper, “most disasters are caused by fire, and we therefore recommend you start with fire as your first case study.” Analyze all the possible factors that could result from each scenario. For example, in case of a fire, anticipate water damage; a disease epidemic could mean lengthy employee downtime; natural disasters usually cause power outages and building destruction.
3. Determine your Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
For RTO, determine how long can your business feasibly afford to be down. While it’s beneficial to every company’s bottom line to have the lowest RTO, it is usually directly proportional to the BC plan cost. Lower RTOs have higher costs associated with implementing the services, equipment, applications, support, maintenance contracts and other processes necessary to return to service quickly.
RPO refers to the point in time a business is willing to roll back to in order to begin recovery. The options you have depend entirely on the data backup system you have in place. For more information on data protection, storage and recovery, click here.
4. Create an inventory list for each location.
This includes not only products and equipment, but also software and applications.
5. Form a DR plan for buildings and equipment.
Should there be damage to a building, facility or equipment, make sure backup systems are in place so that customers continue to receive their product or service. In case of building destruction, have a system in place to enable employees to work remotely.
6. Form a DR plan for operations.
Should your suppliers, vendors or distributors shut down, have alternatives in place who know your product or service and can be seamlessly integrated.
7. Form a DR plan for communications and records.
This includes all company records, customer information, and IT and telephony systems. Since most information is saved to computers and servers, setup a secure data backup system and store copies of all backups in one or more offsite locations. Click here for more information on data backup solutions. Also, formulate an alternate plan to communicate with employees, customers and vendors should the local phone or cellular services be disabled.
8. Review current insurance policies.
Does your insurance policy cover all potential disasters for each location? What expenses and liabilities will it cover during a prolonged shutdown? Will it enable you to repair or replace any damaged facilities and equipment, and pay vendors, employees, suppliers and other creditors? What health and safety expenses are covered? Determine how any expenses not covered by your policy will be paid in the event of a disaster.
9. Distribute the BC and DR plan.
Make sure that all employees, vendors, suppliers and other involved parties have read and reviewed the plan.
10. Implement regular testing.
Tests should be done on a regular basis to insure the plan will work in real-world situations.
11. Review and edit BC plan on a regular basis.
Because businesses change rapidly in today’s corporate environment, your BC and DR plan should reflect those changes.
12. Keep offsite copies of the plan.
Your BC plan doesn’t do any good if disaster hits and it’s saved to a computer or sitting on an employee’s bookshelf. Several copies of the BC should be saved in multiple offsite locations.
While developing a reliable business continuity and disaster recovery plan can be both time consuming and expensive, with some companies devoting as much as 25% of their budgets to them, being prepared insures that your company will stay up and running even when disaster strikes.
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About The Brookfield Group
The Brookfield Group has become a leader in IT, ISP, ASP and web solutions by providing next level technology solutions managed by experts who give you peace of mind without the tech-talk. The company's services are customized to fit any enterprise-size businesses and include: IT project management; hosting solutions and maintenance; systems security and patches; telecommunications services, server and desktop setup, repair and applications; network infrastructure design; audio visual products; surveillance and security solutions; as well as a variety of other software, hardware, services and accessories. Located in Carmel, Indiana, more information about The Brookfield Group products and services is available at www.thebrookfieldgroup.com or by calling 317.524.6000.
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