A disaster recovery plan is a critical element of ensuring long-term business viability. However, disaster recovery plans are highly variable based on factors such as industry, company size, and the nuanced elements of a particular organization. One organization’s disaster recovery plan may be wildly different from another’s.
While it can be helpful to follow a proven framework when conducting disaster planning initiatives, it’s important that you design a playbook for fast and efficient recovery initiatives that are customized to your unique business.
Identifying Critical Assets and Processes
Important steps to take at the very beginning of your disaster recovery planning involve conducting a thorough review of your current operational workflows to identify which elements of your business are essential to your operations. This is what helps you to follow a structured path during recovery initiatives so that the most critical areas are addressed first.
Many times, business compliance requirements will come into play when defining these priorities. If your organization is subject to various industry regulations, many of its supporting compliance frameworks will dictate where and how you should prioritize recovery planning.
Once you have a good idea of which elements are most critical, the next step is to map out how they all connect with core systems and applications. Identify which have dependencies with one another and keep this in mind as you stage your recovery efforts.
Defining Recovery Objectives
After mapping out each of your priority systems, identify specific metrics you’ll want to keep in mind as you start executing recovery initiatives. Two of these metrics that are important to note are your Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
RTO is the maximum tolerable downtime your business can bear after a serious issue like a natural disaster or a cybersecurity incident. Your RPO is defined by the amount of data loss the business can tolerate to maintain business continuity, often translated into the length of time since the most recent backup. Both RTO and RPO are often measured in seconds, minutes, or hours, depending on the organization.
Knowing each of these metrics gives you important benchmarks you can monitor as recovery stages are underway to gauge the overall effectiveness of your execution.
Developing Response Strategies
When designing your actual response strategies, it’s important that all the details you list are clear and actionable for anyone involved in recovery efforts. Document all your processes while outlining any specific actions and priorities each of your teams needs to take.
Ultimately, your goal should be to remove as much guesswork as possible to ensure everyone is able to act with confidence and clarity even when under pressure to complete tasks as quickly as possible.
Make a clear list of the tools and systems that need to be brought back online first, since they directly impact the operability of other associated platforms. As you’re listing each of these strategies, don’t forget to have a disaster communication plan in place. This should include any key employees, partners, or other stakeholders you may need to call on for support during a disaster. This may also include guidelines to inform those impacted by the incident for compliance purposes.
Integrating Third-Party Risk Management
It’s important to weigh the risks of your third-party vendors when designing a more secure business. Since your business likely depends on outside sources to support a wide range of business functions, it’s important to consider what disruptions on their end might mean for your own business.
This is especially important if you’re relying on an outside party to help you execute your disaster recovery plans. It’s critical to take the time to verify your vendor’s disaster recovery initiatives are in alignment with your own and that they’re able to meet the same recovery time and data objectives you’ve set for your own business.
You should also have clear expectations in place on specific data recovery methods in the event your company information becomes compromised on their end, as well as any additional support they’ll offer during your own emergencies.
Testing and Validation
Although you may have invested a lot of time and effort in creating an effective disaster recovery plan, without validation, it’s challenging to know if your playbook will be of use when the time comes to execute it.
This is why it’s critical to make regular recovery plan testing an important part of your company culture. As your business grows, you’ll likely adopt a wide range of newer technologies, supporting processes, and more complex departments.
Regularly reviewing your recovery plans with key stakeholders and having mock drills throughout the year will help recovery teams stay sharp and give you the opportunity to update and refine your plans as needed.
Build a Disaster Plan That Works for Your Business
Taking the time to create a disaster plan that’s truly unique to your business can make the difference between a fast recovery and longer delays getting your core systems and applications back up and running. By following the strategies discussed, you’ll ensure your disaster recovery plan is optimized for your business while strengthening its viability long-term.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nazy Fouladirad is President and COO of Tevora, a global leading cybersecurity consultancy. She has dedicated her career to creating a more secure business and online environment for organizations across the country and world. She is passionate about serving her community and acts as a board member for a local nonprofit organization.
