Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
A Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) is a comprehensive, documented strategy that helps businesses prepare for, respond to, and recover from unexpected events that disrupt operations. These disruptions can range from minor issues, like local power outages, to significant incidents, such as natural disasters or cyberattacks. The primary aim of a DRP is to safeguard employees and business assets while ensuring a swift return to normal operations. Key components typically include procedures to prevent or mitigate disasters, evacuation plans, data protection policies, and strategies for resuming full activities post-disaster.
The development of DRPs has evolved significantly over the decades, particularly with the rise of computer technology and data management needs. Businesses assess potential risks and prioritize the protection of critical operations, often incorporating alternative solutions like cloud storage and backup systems. Training employees on disaster response and establishing recovery centers are also vital aspects of a robust DRP. Ultimately, an effective DRP not only minimizes disruption but also helps maintain customer trust, making it a crucial investment for any organization.
Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
A disaster recovery plan is a documented policy created by a business to help them prepare, respond to, and recover from a variety of unplanned problems. Business interruptions caused by events as widespread as a major power outage, as sudden and dangerous as an active shooter situation, or as large-scale as a natural disaster cause urgent challenges for businesses. Careful advanced planning for potential disasters helps protect employees as well as the business and its assets.
The items addressed in a disaster recovery plan, or DRP, will vary depending on the type of business. However, all will have procedures intended to prevent or mitigate disasters; evacuation plans for employees and key assets; policies for storing and protecting important information before, during, and after a disaster; and plans to maintain and resume full activities following a disaster. Disaster recovery plans are very important because statistics indicate that many businesses have experienced a business disruption related to a disaster. The United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that approximately 40 to 60 percent, if not more, of businesses that suffer a large-scale disaster will go out of business.
Background
Disaster recovery plans are a relatively new development in the business world. Prior to the 1970s, most businesses kept paper records. Disaster planning was mostly limited to making copies of key documents and storing them in a different location from the main business. The arrival of computers led to the first true disaster recovery plans. Businesses began using backup memory tapes that could be loaded into mainframe computers in a different location in the event the main business location was threatened or damaged. Businesses also created plans for other aspects of their operations as well, such as evacuation plans for employees.
In the 1980s, governments began acting to ensure monetary assets by requiring banks to have testable DRPs. The continued growth of computer usage over time meant that more and more businesses created DRPs even when not required to do so. They also created plans for protecting and recovering the massive amounts of computerized data that was generated during the early 2000s.
By the 2010s, cloud storage resolved some of these concerns by creating readily available places for data to be stored and recovered away from businesses’ physical locations. However, this increased the need for businesses to protect against new cyber disasters that could drastically affect a business. As a result, new businesses were created that focused on helping companies develop and implement DRPs.
Overview
Businesses may be affected by many different types of disasters. They can range from problems with a limited scope, such as a power outage in one location, to larger problems, like a company-wide data breach or malware attack affecting computer records, to major disasters of long-lasting implications, such as floods or earthquakes. Most businesses protect against this by trying to anticipate the problems that might happen and creating advance plans to deal with them.
The DRP is an important part of much larger programs most businesses use called a business continuity plan, or BCP. This is an overall plan for maintaining or restoring a business to working order when problems arise. A continuity plan addresses such topics as alternative power sources, secondary business sites in the event the main business location is unusable, and backup staffing plans.
One of the first steps in creating a DRP is to assess potential risks. Companies determine what disasters are most likely to affect their business. They will also look at what parts of their business are most essential to be protected from these potential disasters. Then, they will investigate options for preparing for the scenarios they have identified. This might include buying power generators, investing in cloud data storage, and creating training programs to help employees know how to react as an emergency unfolds.
The most important areas addressed in many DRPs relate to computer and communication networks, often referred to as information technology (IT), or IT systems. According to industry sources, one in five companies will experience at least one severe IT outage or incident within a three-year period. More than 60 percent of these outages will cost the company $100,000 or more in costs and lost income.
In addition to outages, IT systems can be breached, or attacked by cybercriminals. Companies often incur large expenses for recovery, repair, and follow-up monitoring services. Breaches also damage customer trust and can result in lawsuits and other legal action. As a result, a large part of any DRP focuses on the protection of these electronic systems, including the use of encryption, cloud storage, and redundant or backup systems that can be activated if needed.
DRPs also address concerns such as employee training to deal with disasters. This training may include what to do if they identify a potential problem, such as a data breach or the initial stages of a system failure, or how to safely evacuate the worksite in the event of a physical emergency. Depending on the business, they might include plans for an alternative work site, sometimes called a disaster recovery center, as well as staffing plans for essential personnel for the duration of the threat.
The DRP will also attempt to anticipate and plan strategies that a specific company will need to get back in business. For example, a store might plan where it will get replacement inventory. DRPs for companies that are affected by government regulations will also include plans on how to ensure they are meeting those requirements during and immediately after the disaster.
The main goal of a DRP is to minimize the disruption caused by a disaster and restore a company’s ability to do business as quickly as possible. Anticipating potential problems and putting plans in place in advance can be costly. However, this expense is generally less than the cost of lost business and trust that occurs when a company is unable to perform at its regular level and meet customer expectations.
Bibliography
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