Disaster Recovery Plans – Are You Ready?

As technology becomes more and more advanced, so does the potential for something to go wrong with it. If a disaster was to strike your business, would you be ready?

According to the Disaster Recovery site, “Despite the number of very public disasters since 9/11, still only about 50 percent of companies report having a disaster recovery plan. Of those that do, nearly half have never tested their plan, which is tantamount to not having one at all.”

A disaster recovery plan (DRP) – also commonly called a business continuity plan (BCP) – is a detailed listing of how an organization is set up to deal with potential disasters. A DRP consists of the precautions taken by your company to ensure the effects of a disaster will be minimized and that you will be able to either maintain or quickly resume all critical functions.

Generally, disaster recovery planning involves analyzing business processes and continuity needs, as well as a focus on disaster prevention. Obviously, there are natural disasters that just aren’t preventable, but preplanning helps you tighten up areas that might have been destroyed had you not looked ahead.

Disaster recovery planning is becoming more and more of an increasingly important aspect of enterprise computing. As technology has become more complex, so have the ways in which it can malfunction. Consequently, disaster recovery planning has also become more complex, as interruption of service or loss of data can have serious financial impact, some of which may come from loss of customer confidence.

Having a disaster recovery plan is a fundamental responsibility of every organization. And the more effort you put into it, the easier the recovery will be. For a complete step-by-step guide to creating your very own DRP, check out www.disaster-recovery-guide.com.