Business Continuity: Keeping Your Business Running and Recovering from Disaster

Business continuity is a business’s ability to keep operating after a disruptive event such as an IT failure, a cyberattack, or a natural disaster. Proper business continuity planning can save a business from bankruptcy. In this article we’ll explain what business continuity is, why it matters, and how to plan for it properly.

What Is Business Continuity?

Business continuity is a business’s ability to keep operating and delivering services after a disruptive event. It includes the planning, preparation, and processes that make sure the business can keep working even in the hardest moments.

Why Is Business Continuity So Important?

Protection against bankruptcy:

• 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within a year
• 43% of companies that didn’t get back to work within a week of a disruptive event went bankrupt
• Business continuity can save a business

Protecting your reputation:

• A disruptive event can damage your reputation
• Customers lose trust
• A damaged reputation is hard to rebuild

Financial protection:

• A disruptive event causes financial losses
• Repair and recovery costs
• Lost revenue

Regulatory compliance:

• Some regulations require business continuity planning
• Businesses that provide critical services must have a plan
• Compliance protects you from fines and lawsuits

What Is a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)?

A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a detailed plan that defines how to recover from a disruptive event. It includes the processes, procedures, and people responsible for recovery.

Components of a DRP

1. Risk analysis:

• Identifying possible disruptive events
• Assessing the risk of each event
• Assessing the impact on the business

2. Setting priorities:

• What is critical to the business
• What needs to be back up and running first
• What can wait

3. Recovery processes:

• How to recover from each type of event
• Who is responsible for what
• What the steps are

4. Resources:

• What is needed for recovery
• Where the resources are
• Who is responsible for the resources

5. Testing and drills:

• How to check that the plan works
• When to run drills
• How to update the plan

Common Disruptive Events

1. IT Failures

Hard drive failure:

• A server hard drive that burns out
• Data loss on a server
• Systems going down

Cyberattack:

• A ransomware attack
• A breach of your systems
• Data theft

Software failure:

• An update that caused a failure
• A critical bug
• Conflicts between programs

2. Natural Disasters

Fire:

• Damage to equipment
• Loss of physical records
• The office shutting down

Flood:

• Damage to equipment
• Loss of equipment
• The office shutting down

Earthquake:

• Damage to the building
• Damage to equipment
• Operations shutting down

3. Other Events

Power outage:

• Systems going down
• Loss of unsaved data
• Disruption to operations

Connectivity problems:

• Internet outage
• Phone problems
• Disruption to remote work

Human error:

• Accidentally deleting data
• Configuration mistakes
• Deployment problems

The Business Continuity Planning Process

Step 1: Business Analysis

Identifying critical processes:

• What is critical to the business?
• What needs to be back up and running first?
• What can wait?

Impact assessment:

• What is the impact of each process on the business?
• How long can the business work without each process?
• What is the financial impact?

Step 2: Risk Analysis

Identifying risks:

• What can go wrong?
• How likely is each thing to go wrong?
• What is the impact of each event?

Assessing risks:

• Which risks are critical?
• Which risks are less critical?
• What should you focus on?

Step 3: Recovery Planning

Setting objectives:

• RTO (Recovery Time Objective) - how long until you’re back to work
• RPO (Recovery Point Objective) - how much data you’re willing to lose

Planning processes:

• How to recover from each type of event
• Who is responsible for what
• What the steps are

Preparing resources:

• What is needed for recovery
• Where the resources are
• Who is responsible for the resources

Step 4: Documentation

Documenting the plan:

• Write the plan out in detail
• Define processes and procedures
• Define responsibilities

Distribution:

• Distribute the plan to everyone involved
• Make sure everyone knows what to do
• Train the people involved

Step 5: Testing and Drills

Drills:

• Run drills of the plan periodically
• Check that the plan works
• Identify problems and improve

Updates:

• Update the plan as things change
• Update based on lessons from drills
• Update as the business changes

RTO and RPO

RTO and RPO are two critical metrics in business continuity planning:

RTO (Recovery Time Objective)

RTO is the maximum time a system can stay unavailable. It’s the time from the end of the event until the system is working again.

Examples:

• Critical system: an RTO of hours
• Important system: an RTO of a day
• Regular system: an RTO of a few days

RPO (Recovery Point Objective)

RPO is the maximum amount of data you can afford to lose. It’s the time from the end of the last backup until the event.

Examples:

• Critical data: an RPO of an hour (hourly backup)
• Important data: an RPO of a day (daily backup)
• Regular data: an RPO of a few days

Backups and Recovery

Backups are the foundation of business continuity. Without healthy backups, you can’t recover from a disruptive event (more on this in our backup guide).

Types of Backups

Full backup:

• A backup of all data
• Takes time but includes everything
• Suitable for periodic backups

Incremental backup:

• Backs up only what has changed
• Faster
• Suitable for daily backups

Continuous backup:

• Backup in real time
• Minimal RPO
• Suitable for critical data

Where to Keep Backups

Local backup:

• Fast restore
• Doesn’t depend on the internet
• But vulnerable to the same location

Cloud backup:

• Protected from local disasters
• Accessible from anywhere
• But depends on the internet

The combination:

• Local + cloud backup
• Fast restore + maximum protection
• Recommended for every business

Communication During a Crisis

Communication during a crisis is critical to business continuity:

Internal Communication

Employees:

• Update employees on the event
• Explain what is happening
• Explain what to do

Management:

• Update management
• Report on progress
• Make decisions

External Communication

Customers:

• Update customers on problems
• Explain what is happening
• Explain when it will be fixed

Suppliers:

• Update suppliers
• Coordinate activity
• Ask for help if needed

A Managed Solution with Rtek

At Rtek, we provide a fully managed business continuity solution, built on our backup and recovery setup:

What’s Included?

Planning:

• Business and risk analysis
• Defining RTO and RPO
• Planning recovery processes

Deployment:

• Deploying backups
• Setting up recovery processes
• Documenting the plan

Drills:

• Periodic drills
• Backup testing
• Improving the plan

Support:

• Support during a crisis
• Fast response to incidents
• Help with recovery

Why a Managed Solution?

Business continuity planning requires technical and managerial expertise. A managed solution ensures:

• Professional, correct planning
• Correct deployment
• Support when you need it
• Savings in time and budget

Summary

Business continuity is critical for every business. A disruptive event can destroy a business, but proper planning can save it.

Proper business continuity planning, including a DRP, backups, and crisis communication, makes sure your business keeps working even in the hardest moments.

If you want to make sure your business keeps working after a disruptive event, we at Rtek are here to help. Contact us for a tailored quote.