First, you must understand what business continuity really is. Typically described as a contingency plan, it is much more than that! It is a valuable strategy that enables companies to cope up with disasters effortlessly and efficiently. If you want your business to stay functional during a disaster, you must lay out a plan beforehand. It must have a set of prevention and recovery steps. All steps are purposed to reduce the damage caused due to disaster.
Even for small businesses, Business Continuity Plan should be focused on several fundamental components. It is all about documenting every key function, role, and aspect of your system. Business continuity and disaster recovery are interchangeable terms. But they are pretty different. Disaster recovery is a vital part of a BCDR guide. In a disaster plan, you put all the resources to restore or retain the mission-critical functions of your damaged system.
Essentials For Business Continuity And Disaster Recovery Guide
Certain factors need to be considered while strategizing your plan for disaster recovery. Here are the highlighted ones:
Start With A Detailed Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
The foremost step of BCDR guide is “BIA,” where you take inventory of your existing systems and update your enlisting with all the essential resources you can rely on during or after a disaster. It is all done to help create a feasible and practically applicable strategy aimed at restoring the remaining resources.
This analysis must measure the significance of applications so that you will be able to line up the restoration phases of your mission-critical systems as per their importance and need. The chief goal of conducting BIA is to recognize critical systems you must focus on restoring first. Gather the following information:
Classify the resources that are at highest risk along with their importance in business
Point out the perilous functions that supervise the operation of the servers
Highlight an acceptable level and time for system downtime
The time you will be needing for restoring files
Identify the possible negative impacts of system failures on the company
Make the team who will be responsible for responding to sudden attacks and emergencies
Highlight Your Highest Risk Potential
If you have successfully cataloged the potential risks your company can face, you will be able to minimize the probability of you being caught off guard. One cannot control the future, but understanding the issues will surely help. Take every physical risk on-site and technological risk to your attention. Typical risks are:
Water damage (Flooding)
Power blackouts
Theft/Sabotage
DDoS attacks
Fire hazards
Harsh weather calamities
Natural disasters
Viruses or malware
Develop a Strategic Communication Plan
The better and responsible employees you choose to implement BCP, the better the chances are for recovery. It would help if you made a team of active and responsive employees. This step in BCDR guide helps your team respond in times precisely. It would help if you created a communication plan that outlines the staff members who will be involved in the response team and their roles. It also supports long-term security. The effective ways for communicating can be:
Messaging
Calls
Email alert
Collaborative tools such as Slack
Specific applications, especially WhatsApp, etc.
Look Out For Your Insurance Coverage
Insurance is needed and one of the most crucial aspects when it comes to mitigating damage. It gives financial safety. Having a Business Interruption Insurance policy can help you cover your basis whenever you hit bottom. Your insurance must cover natural disasters, fire, theft as well as other issues. The policy might also cover profits.
Keep Your Data Backed up in the Cloud
Not keeping a backup is one of the most foolish mistakes. Having your data backed up in the secure cloud is a certain way of safeguarding your data even in a time of severe crisis. Having your data saved off-premises away from the local environment is a sensible choice. Besides, it also lets you access that data remotely. Keep your data center far away from local premises.
Test-Run Your Plan
Never forget to test your plan earlier. Every step needs to be tested meticulously. It will let you see how your program will react and function and how effective it will be. Notice the time it will take to execute and how it aware the team. Right down all the possible issues as it will let you make the desired changes easily. Pay close attention to two things: recovery time objective and recovery point objective.
Install Cyber Security Tools
Cyber-attacks are undeniably a significant cause of data loss. To minimize the risk of damage due to Viruses, malware, and DDOS attacks, install a software agent on all your linked devices as well as servers. It is required for supervising the entry points. Efficient antivirus solutions also tend to send timely alerts upon damage.
Make Physical Copies
Always keep plenty of physical copies of your strategized BCDR guide at easy access. A detailed record of every response is unconditionally priceless during any crisis. What will you do if you lose functionality and have a plan available only in a digital document? That is why you need MANUAL COPIES.
