Disaster Recovery Planning is Not Only for Data

Many industries think that a Disaster Recovery Plan only applies to data and IT. They assign resources to ensure data is backed up and the network can be operational very quickly when a disaster strikes. Well Hello – the rest of the business is important too.. Disasters strike unexpectedly and unless every aspect of the business is prepared to face it, it will be a costly financial misadventure. If the business is small, it may never be able to recover.

Business should not ignore the needs of non IT related aspects of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. For example, let us take the case of a flood. An office may be inaccessible. If only the data side of this is taken care of by a replication strategy, what happens the rest of the departments? Where employees work from, office communication, shipping and receiving, accounts payable and receivable are all important too. If the DRP covers only IT, you will have data but not the resources to use it. Do not make that mistake. Develop the plan for the entire company.

A good all round DR plan needs input from all departments. The plan should be crafted giving priority to the most important business functions. Employee and customer safety should also be taken into consideration. Data replication strategies should also be an important part but NOT the only part.