Planning ensures that critical business functions can continue if a disaster occurs
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Despite some overlap, business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) play different roles in crisis management. A clear understanding of what sets these closely related fields apart (and how the two work in tandem) enables decision makers to create more effective plans for weathering business disruptions. This article explains the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery, two must-have strategies for any company wishing to avoid prolonged downtime. Read on to learn what company areas BC and DR protect, and see how combining both practices builds resiliency against potentially business-ending threats. Business continuity (BC) is a set of pre-defined plans that dictate how a company will continue to operate during a disruptive event. A BC plan temporarily addresses the incident to maintain critical business functions until the disruption is gone. The goal of BC is to minimize downtime in the event of an incident. For an enterprise, an average minute of service downtime costs $5,600. SMBs face fewer per-minute losses (somewhere in the $450 to $1000 range on average), but 29% of smaller businesses and startups never recover from a major disruption. Ideally, a company should prepare a BC plan for every possible disruption scenario. Incidents vary based on geography and industry verticals, but here are some of the most common ones:
For example, a business continuity management plan for an office flood outlines the following course of action:
Preparing a response plan for every scenario you can think of is not a business-smart approach. Most companies prepare plans only for realistic events (e.g., setting aside time and resources to prepare for a hurricane is not a priority for a California-based company). What Is Disaster Recovery?Disaster recovery (DR) is a set of pre-defined procedures that dictate how a company plans to recover its IT infrastructure after a disruptive event. Whereas BC aims to keep operations running during the incident, DR focuses on restoring technology-based systems to the pre-failure state. DR planning has three primary considerations:
Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity planning, and no BC strategy is complete without a plan for restoring IT functions. DR prepares for the same accidents as BC (natural disasters, cyber-attacks, insider threats, etc.) but focuses solely on restoring software and IT-related assets, such as:
While a BC plan also covers these factors, business continuity goes deeper into how the company handles an incident (e.g., crisis management, employee safety, alternative office locations, PR strategies, etc.). These factors are not a part of DR planning. Let's look at the same flooding example to see how DR fits the BC picture. If a sudden burst of water hits your office, a DR plan helps quickly:
Most DR strategies involve switching operations from the primary system to an alternative site. Instead of setting up expensive on-site backup systems, you can rely on disaster-recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS) and create a cloud-based infrastructure that instantly takes over operations in times of crisis. Why Are Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Important?Both business continuity and disaster recovery are vital to company safety:
Companies often combine business continuity and disaster recovery into a single initiative called BCDR. The growing popularity of BCDR shows that companies are increasingly realizing that different teams must collaborate when preparing for incidents instead of developing response plans in silos. While some organizations have the freedom to choose whether to invest in BCDR or not, some companies have legal obligations to prepare plans. Most businesses operating in financial, government, and healthcare industries must have some form of BC and DR readiness. Business Continuity Plan vs Disaster Recovery PlanCompanies outline their BC and DR plans in two documents:
Some businesses decide to use a single document for both plans. Let's take a closer look at what you must include in these plans regardless of whether you format them together or separately. What Does a Business Continuity Plan Include?Here's a list of everything you must include in a BCP:
What Does a Disaster Recovery Plan Include?Here's a list of everything you need to cover in a DRP:
Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery: Key DifferencesThe table below explains the main differences between business continuity and disaster recovery:
Data backups and DR are another two closely related fields separated by a sometimes too blurry line. Our backup vs disaster recovery article explores the difference between the two practices and explains their unique roles in incident management. How Do Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Work Together?Some companies opt to perform BC and DR planning in silos, which is not a wise choice. Others focus on one and not the other, which is also a less-than-ideal way to plan for business disruptions. Business continuity and disaster recovery work best when you develop both practices in tandem and tackle unplanned events with both strategies. DR should be a subset of a broader business continuity plan, a part of the BCP that handles the "mitigate" and "recover" portions of the response procedure. A holistic approach to BCDR ensures you cover all business fronts in case of a disaster:
The combined use of the two practices has the following benefits:
No BCDR strategy is complete without reliable data backups. PhoenixNAP's backup and restore solutions enable you to use cloud-based backups and ensure no incident results in permanent data loss. Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery: Two Must-Have Practices for Any Security-Aware CompanyUnfortunate events are bound to happen, and responding to them without proper BC and DR planning can be catastrophic. Incidents often cripple IT systems, prevent employees from working, and stop all revenue-generating operations. How long can your business tolerate such circumstances? Likely not very long, so start thinking about BCDR before an unplanned event severely damages your bottom line and reputation. Andreja Velimirovic Andreja is a content specialist with over half a decade of experience in putting pen to digital paper. Fueled by a passion for cutting-edge IT, he found a home at phoenixNAP where he gets to dissect complex tech topics and break them down into practical, easy-to-digest articles. Which type of planning ensures that critical business functions continue if a catastrophic incident or disaster occurs?A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a documented, structured approach that describes how an organization can quickly resume work after an unplanned incident. A DRP is an essential part of a business continuity plan (BCP).
What ensure that essential business functions are available during and after disaster?Business continuity focuses on keeping business operational during a disaster, while disaster recovery focuses on restoring data access and IT infrastructure after a disaster.
What is considered a critical business function?The Critical Business Functions or CBF are business activities and processes that must be restored in the event of a disruption to ensure the ability to protect the organization's assets, meet organizational needs, and satisfy regulations.
Which of the following is the purpose of business continuity planning?Business continuity plans (BCPs) are created to help speed up the recovery of an organization filling a threat or disaster. The plan puts in place mechanisms and functions to allow personnel and assets to minimize company downtime. BCPs cover all organizational risks should a disaster happen, such as flood or fire.
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