Question

In a conversation with the dean of technology for the university, you have discovered that the university does not have a current disaster recovery and business continuity plan. Provide a 1-2-page document for the dean of technology that describes the elements to be considered for business continuity and disaster recovery. In your document, include the following: Why the business continuity and disaster recovery plan is necessary What should be considered and covered in a business continuity plan and disaster recovery plan Explanation of the major elements of disaster recovery and business continuity Discussion of different options for disaster recovery Describe how disaster recovery and business continuity are impacted by tools and best practices surrounding assurance of data accuracy and consistency

Answer 1

Business continuity and disaster recovery must be key parts of a company’s overall planning process. Disaster events are unpredictable; it is crucial to take a proactive approach in the overall planning before it is too late. Failure in any part of your business process can translate to a loss of revenue; a situation no business wants to be in. However, with a clear and well-thought-out business continuity and disaster recovery plan, your business can do everything in its power to mitigate the risks and minimize time to full recovery. This paper gives you a simple outline of business continuity planning. We’ll start with a brief description on the types of events that can affect continuous operation of your business. We’ll then shift to IT considerations, offering solid advice for protecting your organization’s critical technology assets. Finally, we will discuss how managed solutions can help streamline disaster recovery processes and minimize the burden on internal IT resources.

Identify Potential Threats and Vulnerabilities

The first step in preparing your business for a disaster is identifying the potential threats, such as: Natural and localized disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and fires

Failure of IT systems, such as the network, file servers, and software applications

Power outages, such as utility failures Human threats, such as sabotage, virus attacks, terrorism, and other crimes

A business continuity plan takes into account such events and identifies issues that are absolutely critical for maintaining the essential operations to run your business.

The plan should also take into account tangible and non-tangible costs your business may need to cover during a failure event.

Business Continuity Planning

A business continuity plan encompasses not only IT, but also takes into account other functions of the business, such as staff and facilities.

A business continuity plan asks the question: If there is an interruption to regular business processes, what is needed to keep the business going? Look at everything that your business needs to stay operational, IT and beyond.

During the planning process, it is also helpful to list business functions in order of importance. Identify the functions that can result in the greatest financial loss to your business if they were to fail. Which ones have the greatest impact on the service you provide your customers? Ensure functions that have the greatest impact receive the most attention.

There are many IT considerations when it comes to disaster recovery. The partnership between your business continuity and disaster recovery processes will vary for every business.

However, there are some general tips applicable to most companies: Organize a business continuity committee to be in charge of creating the disaster recovery plan, as well as executing and evaluating as necessary. – Ensure that other parts of the organization, including the IT team and any Managed Services Providers, are involved. – Determine critical systems that require very high uptime, and evaluate them with respect to how they affect financial, PR, and other relevant criteria.

Establish a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for any IT systems identified during this process. Plan, schedule, and execute drills to identify and incorporate any ongoing process changes or evolving business realities.

When it comes to disaster recovery, there are also some IT-related matters to consider:

Maintain adequate IT operations staff to handle the IT requirements during a disaster event. To offset larger disasters, such as earthquakes or hurricanes, ensure that you are not depending on one geographic location.

Establish backups in at least one other geographic location. To protect against inadvertent virus infections that might affect your primary and secondary backups, or for any compliance or regulatory requirements, an archival solution such as a tape or virtual tape backup will be necessary.

Maintain the ability to remotely manage your crucial data and functions.

How A Managed Services Provider Can Help

There are many IT considerations when it comes to disaster recovery. Partnering with a Managed Services Provider is often advantageous because you ensure that your data is well protected. You’re also likely to save money by outsourcing to specialists who can recommend best practices and have already made significant investments in reliable, redundant, and monitored systems.

Here are some key ways that a Managed Services Provider can benefit your business:

Modern Tier-3 comparable data centers used by reputable service providers are designed and built with the backup infrastructure required to allow them to operate on a standalone basis, even after a disastrous event has occurred.

Typically, a Managed Services Provider is organized to operate in a robust manner from locations that are geographically diverse. If disaster strikes in one location, your outsourced Managed Services team will have planned for such an event and will be able to retrieve your data from another location.

A Managed Services team already understands the need for maintaining critical systems and redundancy as they rely on their own network for availability.

The best Managed Services Providers stay abreast of the latest technologies and best practices, and they will use that expertise to bolster the effectiveness of your own continuity plan.

final words

When it comes to disaster recovery planning for your business, ensure that you understand the potential threats, and have a plan in place to deal with them. Get your IT resources on board and don't go it alone. Enlist a Managed Services Provider to increase the value of your team and plan