It is now generally recognized that Business
continuity planning and disaster recovery
planning are vital activities. However,
the creation of (and maintenance of) a
sound business continuity and disaster
recovery plan, is a complex undertaking,
involving a series of steps.
Prior to creation of the plan itself,
it is essential to consider the potential
impacts of disaster and to understand
the underlying risks: these are the foundations
upon which a sound business continuity
plan or disaster recovery plan should
be built. Following these activities the
plan itself must be constructed - no small
task. This itself must then be maintained,
tested and audited to ensure that it remains
appropriate to the needs of the organization.
And what about the support infrastructure
and services?
Cor Digital Technology will create and
implement the plan as far as you wish
to take it. Keeping you up and running,
through any disaster, is our only goal.
The first step in a sensible business
continuity process is to consider the
potential impacts of each type of disaster
or event. This is critical - how can you
properly plan for a disaster if you have
little idea of the likely impacts on your
business/organization of the different
scenarios?
Having determined the impacts, it is now
equally important to consider the magnitude
of the risks which could result in these
impacts. Again, this is a critical activity
- it will determine which scenarios are
most likely to occur and which should
attract most attention during the planning
process.
BIA and Risk analysis are disciplines
in their own right. However, a method
has emerged to simplify these tasks. The
COBRA methodology and tool are now used
across the world, by all types of organization.
A sound disaster recovery / business
continuity plan is essential to protect
the well being of an organization. This
cannot really be over emphasized... yet
many enterprises still side step the issue
or hold plans which are clearly out of
date or inadequate.
Part of the reason for this is the complexity
of the task. This is not helped by some
vendors selling planning products which
are themselves extremely difficult to
master.
There is now, however, a growing trend
to address this head on: to use a quality
disaster recovery template with forms
and guide to create the plan directly.
Minimum fuss, minumum complexity, maximum
productivity... and a top quality plan
at the end.
