In recent times, there has been a multitude of examples of how your business can experience extreme data loss.
From natural disasters, such as fire and floods, to system error and hardware failure, to more alarmingly, cyber-attacks, there is a multitude of threats to your business data.
How would your business operate if it were victim to an IT disaster? Are you prepared for the case of not 'if' but 'when' your business needs to recover?
With the Government warning that cyber-attacks remain on the rise, now is the time to develop or review your Disaster Recovery Plan.
What is a Disaster Recovery Plan?
A Disaster Recovery Plan is a formal business document containing detailed instructions on how to respond to unplanned incidents such as natural disasters, power outages, cyber attacks and any other harmful events.
The plan is designed to minimise the impact of a disaster, by providing recommendations for data back ups, policies and procedures, and communication plans, to enable a business to continue to operate, or quickly recover from, an IT infrastructure disaster.
Not to be confused with the equally as important, Business Continuity Plan, a Disaster Recovery Plan specifically focuses on resolving data loss, system and network functionality so that a business can maintain or quickly resume operations.
Why does your business need a Disaster Recovery Plan?
A Disaster Recovery Plan not only ensures your business operations are protected and can be maintained in the case of an unplanned incident, but in many cases is a necessity for Australian businesses in order to gain and maintain regulatory compliance, such as ISO 27001 or the DESE ISMS Scheme.
Having a detailed Disaster Recovery Plan in place ensures your business:
- Can maintain operations or recover as quickly as possible.
- Continues to meet customers' needs during and after the event.
- Minimises financial impacts caused by downtime associated with IT disasters.
- Ensures clear communication, giving both your team and your stakeholders clarity.
What does a detailed Disaster Recovery Plan include?
Recovering from an IT disaster quickly is crucial to maintaining ongoing business operations and service to customers. When it comes to a Disaster Recovery Plan, clear and detailed "step-by-step" instructions on the execution can be the difference between minutes, hours, and days lost (and the associated cost!).
A detailed Disaster Recovery Plan should also include
- Inventory all relevant hardware, software and business systems.
- Recovery Point Objectives (RPO’s) as agreed by the business for each business system.
- A responsibilities matrix.
- Vendor roles and responsibilities as well as agreed service level expectations.
- Details on alternative backup locations for staff to work from.
- A Disaster Recovery communication plan.
- A plan for managing sensitive data during the Disaster Recovery event.
- A plan for returning to normal business operation post Disaster Recovery event.
Consider testing your Disaster Recovery Plan
It is important to test and evaluate your Disaster Recover Plan regularly. Testing your plan will not only identify any areas needing updating or reinforcing but will also build internal confidence within your business in how to respond should an event occur.
Frequent testing may also be required as part of your businesses' compliance requirements.
How Diamond IT can help you build and test a strong Disaster Recovery Plan
Diamond IT has a proven track record of partnering with a wide range of organisations to design, implement and test Disaster Recovery Plans. Our team of Business Technology Consultants are here to ensure that your Disaster Recovery Plan meets best practice and compliance standards.
For more information on how we can support you to ensure your business is geared to quickly recover from an IT disaster contact our team today on 1300 307 907.
