Question

PLEASE WRITE ANSWERS OF APPROXIMATELY 1-2 PAGES (DOUBLE SPACED, TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT, 1 INCH MARGINS)

Describe the significance of IT disaster recovery planning and steps that organizations should undertake to ensure business continuity after an IT disaster.

Answer 1

In today’s globalized digital world, any disruption in a company’s information technology can have drastic consequences. The average cost of an IT downtime is $300,000 per hour, according to research firm Gartner. It will be much higher for larger companies. Any downtime will have an impact on daily revenues and employee productivity. Moreover, any data loss can result in financial and reputational loss. Also, the costs involved in recovery of lost data are also high. As per certain reports, around 60% of small businesses have to deal with liquidation within a few months of a cyberattack. Hence, it is critical to invest resources for implementing a well-functioning and effective disaster recovery plan. A well designed plan will help the company to recover the lost data and resume operations as soon as possible.

To ensure business continuity after an IT disaster, the first step is to host a strategy meeting with the top management to discuss the critical issues and the way forward. An effective plan should be implemented that considers all possible scenarios. Adequate safeguards for data protection should be put in place. The business continuity program should be adopted, which involves offsite hosting services, backing up of critical data on the cloud. Making hard copies and storing them in a secure location is also recommended. Finally, all the employees should be aware of their roles and responsibilities in such a situation. The team should be familiar and trained in the disaster recovery plan.