Is Disaster Recovery Planning Important?

Yes, for continuity of business operations after a major unplanned event impacts primary computing or network operations. Being able to continue revenue producing or customer facing operations is often a mission critical objective for both the organization and its customers. Without a formal plan in place during a time of crisis and chaos, the recovery of business operations to a normal level will take much longer and cost much more than anticipated. This is due in large part to logistics and communication with suppliers and partners , waiting for equipment and resources required to arrive to help, and developing a recovery plan based on incomplete or unrealistic assumptions or information.

In most cases, disaster planning often leverages existing equipment and capabilities to minimize investment expense. Recovery equipment and systems are shared with production systems to reduce the time required to implement them during an emergency, as well as activating security policies and procedures required to operate effectively.

Security processes are part of the recovery planning efforts. Transferring customer records, supplier records or proprietary information must occur without error to avoid interruption to business processes or a loss of trust during an unusual event. Plans and training activities need to be prepared to accommodate plausible situations, with rehearsals for all participants to determine weak points that require improvement and investment.

Senior managers need to participate in these planning sessions and rehearsal activities to provide suggestions, critique and visibility to all members of the security and recovery teams . Understanding the big- picture impact and investment provides a perspective different than a pure technical or operational focus, often leading to improvements that would otherwise be overlooked.

Disaster planning is a very serious and expensive process. It assumes very difficult scenarios will occur that require the same four basic management skills mentioned earlier in this section ” responsibility, integrity, trust and ethics ” to successfully execute.