Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Planning
Business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) planning means preparing, in writing and in advance, for how the business keeps running — or recovers quickly — after a disruption like hardware failure, data loss, fire, or theft.
A plan for what happens when something goes wrong — hardware failure, data loss, or worse — so downtime doesn't become a crisis.
Why it matters
Downtime that doesn't become a crisis
A tested plan means you know exactly what to do in the first hour.
Realistic recovery targets
Backup and recovery matched to what your business can actually tolerate losing.
Peace of mind
One less thing to worry about when something does go wrong.
What this covers
- Identifying what would actually break the business if it went down, and for how long is tolerable
- A backup and recovery plan matched to that tolerance, not a one-size-fits-all template
- A written, tested plan for what to do in the first hours of an incident
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a backup and a disaster recovery plan?
A backup is a copy of your data. A disaster recovery plan is the full, written procedure for what happens after something goes wrong — who does what, in what order, and how quickly you're back running. A backup with no recovery plan often takes far longer to actually restore from than anyone expected.
What are RTO and RPO?
RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is how long you can tolerate being down before it seriously hurts the business. RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is how much data loss you can tolerate — an hour's worth, a day's worth. Both numbers drive what kind of backup and recovery setup actually makes sense for you, instead of guessing at what's "enough."
How often should a disaster recovery plan be tested?
At least once a year, and after any significant change to your systems. An untested plan is a document, not a plan — the point of testing is finding out it works (or doesn't) before an actual incident forces you to find out the hard way.