Start with the basics.

DR/BC planning in small and mid sized businesses (SMB) always starts with the basics.  These are the things that every business should do, regardless of their size, mission, regulatory compliance, or business strategy.  These are the easy things that don’t require gobs of money or consultants to tell you how to protect your business from a debilitating interruption.  When the basics are done well, any business can recover from any unexpected event and / or situation.  The variable is how long and how much effort it will take to recover.  This simple concept is lost on many who pursue BC/DR plans, they focus on the “how long” before they focus on the “if”.  The basics provide the “if”. 

Here are the basics:

Sound Design: A sound design consists of planning for a long lifecycle, selecting the proper technology balancing needs, training and supportability, keeping the setup as close to industry best practices as the business needs allow, and keeping it simple.

 Utilize and test security tools:  Security issues are the most common of technology business interruptions.  Use industry best firewalls, monitoring, backup, and malware tools, follow industry best practices, and test regularly.

 Document it:  Trying to figure out how a broken system was setup wastes valuable time in a technology failure.  Having thorough system documentation in place will allow for better long term planning, faster troubleshooting, and provide a roadmap for recovery in the event of an event.

 Build it to last:  Implementation is the variable that will determine the reliability and predictability of a well designed system.  A well planned and executed implementation will usually run better and longer than a haphazard one.  Good habits, industry best practices, attention to detail, fit and finish are some of the traits that make for a solid implementation.

 Support it well:  If it were a car this would mean keeping the tires properly inflated and rotated, changing the oil, keeping it clean, following the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule, watching the gauges and indicator lights, staying aware of how the car performs through your senses.  Technology is no different; routine maintenance (light and heavy), monitoring, and awareness keep the well designed and implemented system running well through lifecycle.

 If the basics are done well, the organization should have a system that is less susceptible to disruption and have the ability to recover in case that they do.  These steps are generally within reach of any organization.

 The next logical question is how long does it take and this is where the conversation starts to get complicated and people start to get lost in the weeds.  Once the basics are in place, this may be the point to call in the outsiders to assist.

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Given a disaster, will you become a survivor or statistic? Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) requires more than a back‐up of your data. It is about developing a plan to help our friends survive, regardless of the business interruption. Too often the business interruption is an event that has no impact on the building or the employees, but can be fatal to the company. Some of these situations might be a product recall, misinformation being circulated to clients, data embezzlement or a drawn out legal issue.

Understanding the difference between Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery is a key to helping an organization understand the need for a thorough Business Continuity Plan.  For future reference we offer the following definitions

Business Continuity-The need for an organization to continue to function even after a disastrous event.

Disaster Recovery-The ability to respond to an unplanned interruption and implement a technology and communications recovery plan and successfully restore an organization’s critical operational functions.

It is clear that Disaster Recovery is in fact a subset  of Business Continuity and that by themselves the recovery of communications and technology are not sufficient to bring an organization back to a state of function and normalcy.

The practice includes assistance and training in BC/DR Plan Development, DR Testing as well as GAP Analysis and implementation. Using a proven methodology and software template to build a thorough and maintainable Business Continuity Plan that incorporates Disaster Recovery can bring immediate and discernable financial benefit to your firm as well as delivering the key to Survivability.

A few of the benefits are:

• Competitive Advantage
• Client Confidence
• Insurance Savings
• Employee Attitude
• Technology Efficiencies and Savings
• Increased Stockholder Value
• Improved Processes
• Peace of Mind

Areas that are covered during the development of a qualified BC/DR Plan are:

• Disaster Prevention
• Establish Recovery Teams
• Legal Compliance
• Policies and Procedures
• A Complete Technical Inventory
• Vendor Vulnerability
• Call Trees for Notification
• Client Notification
• Telecommunications Recovery
• Using the BC/DR Plan for Profit

Have you ever seen a house that was built without a plan?  Why would you do the same with your business?  After a serious business interruption, the recovery process needs to follow a plan, the plan to survive and continued success.

We look forward to helping your firm become a more survivable one and not a statistic!

David Manion – Partner , CW Technology and Certified BCP Consultant