Why Your Business Needs a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan (BCDR)

A comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery plan (BCDR) lays out the technologies and strategies a business implements to bring its operations back on track in the event of a man-made or natural disaster.

Every day, business owners face an overwhelming scope of routine tasks, from management to problem-solving. The last thing you need is lost data and corrupted systems disrupting your business and halting operations.

Often, downtime and disruption result from:

• Faulty hardware
• Natural calamity
• Human error
• Corrupted software
• Malicious cyberattacks and viruses

To prevent these issues from taking over your business, you need a comprehensive backup and business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) strategy. This document essentially outlines how a business will keep up its operations by proactively tackling any issues that may lead to downtime and loss of productivity.

What is a Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Strategy?

Business continuity refers to a company’s readiness to resume normal operations after an unexpected emergency, such as a security breach or a natural disaster. Disaster recovery, on the other hand, refers to the restoration of business data and operations after a disaster.

Together, business continuity and disaster recovery strategies and policies help businesses assess and respond to unplanned events and restore normal operations quickly and efficiently.

With that said, why is a business continuity and disaster recovery plan important for your business?

Insulates the Business Against Internal and External Risks

An active response plan sets the foundation for the restoration of normal business operations after an incident. However, such a response would be impossible if your business does not actively invest in identifying and mitigating internal and external risks in real-time. 

Essentially, your BCDR plan underscores the technologies and processes in proactively monitoring your network systems and devices. At the same time, it highlights the importance of deploying tactical defenses to shield your business against internal and external risks.

To Protect Systems, Devices, and Workflows

Managing company-wide business systems, user devices, and data can be overwhelming. Like all technologies, business systems are prone to human error, hardware failure, and software corruption, after natural events that are out of human control occur. The aftermath can be devastating, with business operations potentially stalling for hours and sometimes days.

A business continuity and disaster recovery plan lays out the exact steps you should take to respond to such events swiftly and decisively. It also makes provisions for secure backup solutions to tighten the security around your business data, systems, and devices.

Cost Optimization: Deduplication of Data and Minimized Storage Needs

It is not uncommon to find multiple copies of the same file on several storage devices in today’s business setting. Even with the most advanced data storage solutions, businesses often waste valuable storage space by keeping multiple duplicate files spread throughout the organization.

And because more data gets processed every day, small and medium-sized businesses face rising costs of storage devices, which eventually hurts their bottom line. A business continuity and disaster recovery plan provides guidelines for the identification and deduplication of similar data, therefore freeing up more vital storage space and reducing business costs.

Bolstering the Integrity, Availability, and Accessibility of Data

IT systems are complex. The interconnected nature of an IT system, including networks, and cloud-based and on-premises data environments makes it difficult to effectively monitor and protect an IT ecosystem from vulnerability. 

If your system has many existing entry points, it is difficult to guarantee the safe and secure accessibility of data throughout the entire IT system. A BCDR strategy makes provisions for the deployment of the right data protection technologies to bolster the security around your remote, cloud, and on-site network infrastructure.

Building Business Resilience and Continuity

One of the most essential roles of a sound BCDR strategy is to guarantee the continuity of business operations in the event of an unexpected emergency. A resilient business can resume its operations and insulate its workflows from the damaging effects of downtime, data loss, and breach. 

Enhances Visibility, Controls User Access, and Ensures Compliance with Data Protection Requirements

In the face of rising cases of data breaches and cybersecurity incidents, businesses need to ensure that only authorized personnel can access certain classes of data, and not just every employee. Unauthorized access must be detected early and dealt with promptly to protect vital data from falling into the wrong hands. 

Not only does your BCDR strategy outline the necessary data control measures, it also further ensures compliance with legal and industry data protection regulations. 

Establish a Comprehensive Backup and BCDR for Your Business

The importance of adopting a comprehensive backup and BCDR plan can never be overstated. In a time where data breaches and losses lead to inconvenient operational disruptions and high costs in legal battles and system repairs, business owners must do everything in their power to acquire the right tools and expertise and protect their businesses from the adverse effects of unexpected emergencies.

By partnering with us, you can benefit from our vast knowledge and expertise in developing customized backup and BCDR strategies that match your business needs.

Get in touch with us today for more information!