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Did you know that 40% of businesses never reopen after a disaster? There are many people that use Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery interchangeably but the truth is they are not interchangeable. They are two entirely different strategies and each one has a significant role in business operations.
We are going to share the differences between a business continuity plan vs disaster recovery plan. Keep reading to learn more.
Before we go into their differences let’s establish what each one is. Business continuity is a plan of action to ensure that regular businesses will continue even after a disaster strikes. A disaster recovery plan is where systems are put in place to restore things such as IT assets, hardware, and communications. The main goal of disaster recovery is to minimize downtime after a disaster strikes.
The key difference between the two is when the plan goes into effect. A business continuity plan requires you to keep operations functional during the event and immediately after. Disaster recovery is more focused on how you respond after the event and how you return operations back to normal.
One difference between business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans is that business continuity has a wider scope. This plan can literally mean the difference between closing your doors and the survival of your business.
The plan you put together has to focus on your customers and the supply chain as well. Your suppliers have to know that their payment invoices are on your list and ready for payment. While your customers have to be confident that their orders will either be filled on time or if they will have a temporary delay.
Your business continuity plan is a strategy and will ensure that your operations continue with minimal downtime. You can use business plan examples to help guide you in creating your plan.
This plan is more of a subspace of a business continuity plan. Because IT disasters can range anywhere from small hardware failures to large security breaches having a plan in place is crucial. An IT disaster can cause a company to declare bankruptcy – this is how crucial having a disaster recovery plan in place is.
If you have a disaster plan in place make sure that you are updating it because what might have worked a year ago might not work this year. As your company grows your needs will change and grow as well.
Your disaster recovery plan will have the capability of restoring data and critical applications if systems are destroyed when disaster strikes.
Now that you know that there is a difference between a business continuity plan vs disaster recovery plan, it is time to spruce up the current plans you have in place or create new plans if you do not have any.
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