AdminImagine running a company that has no issue getting in front of the right audience and providing amazing products. You have a motivated team that’s fully aligned with your goals. However, you don’t have business continuity or disaster recovery plans.
It only takes a single incident to completely derail your company’s performance, and issues like these are why approximately 20% of businesses fail within the first year.
It’s essential to understand business continuity vs disaster recovery, however. Let’s explore the key information you should know before moving forward.
Business Continuity
This term refers to the steps you take to keep your company running after a disaster occurs. Business continuity strategies involve deciding who will handle particular roles, where your company will operate, and how this will impact your normal operations.
The more details you plan for, the better. This is an essential part of business continuity planning that will prevent additional issues from arising as time goes on.
Disaster Recovery
As the name implies, disaster recovery plans involve how you respond and recover from a disaster. These scenarios can come in many forms, such as fires, data loss, inclement weather, and accidents.
It even encompasses particular catastrophic events, such as active shooters or terrorist attacks. Once you respond to the incident in question, you can return to your company’s normal operations.
Common Scenarios to Consider
Some situations are more likely to occur than others. Understanding these will help you develop comprehensive plans and ensure you navigate them appropriately. Listed below are some of the most notable for protecting your business.
Power Outages
Even brief power outages can lead to major issues. For example, let’s assume your business couldn’t operate for an hour.
If you pay a team of 10 people an average of $50/hour, that’s $500 in lost productivity. This also doesn’t include issues like opportunity cost or damaged customer relationships. These can be difficult or even impossible to overcome.
Network Outages
You can encounter just as many issues as a power outage if you experience a network outage. To make matters even worse, network outages seem to occur without any particular cause. This can create a stressful situation that your IT team struggles to accommodate.
Physical Disruption
This situation has virtually no limits in terms of how it can happen. For example, an employee could spill coffee on an external hard drive and destroy sensitive data.
Damage to your facility after a storm could make it unsafe for people to enter the building. Decide which are most likely to affect your business so you can plan accordingly.
Understand Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery
Both of these processes are essential for keeping your company as safe as possible. Otherwise, you risk encountering major issues. The tips in this guide will ensure you fully understand business continuity vs disaster recovery and can plan appropriately.
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