Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery

BC, DR, WTF?

First things first: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery are NOT the same thing. They are related and connected, but they are not the same.

Business Continuity = a proactive plan to continue business operations

Disaster Recovery = a reactive plan for accessing required technology and infrastructure after a disaster or outage

Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery focuses on the information or technology systems that support your business functions. Business Continuity, on the other hand, involves planning for keeping all aspects of your business operational during (or in the aftermath of) any unforeseen event. See the difference? A DR plan focuses on how to restore your company data, technology, infrastructure, systems, and applications. DR will ensure your employees can quickly access their files, folders, email, servers, presentations, and anything else that’s vital to keeping customers happy and your business afloat.

The Right Approach to Putting Them Together

If you have a business, you need a Business Continuity plan. Simple as that. And you can’t have a Business Continuity plan without Disaster Recovery, so let’s make sure we get that squared away before it’s too late. For a cost-effective, secure approach to BC and DR, more and more growing businesses are turning to the cloud. Backing up company data to the cloud is a natural choice for businesses without the luxury of an IT staff or expert security consultant. Cloud backup also saves you from having to invest in costly hardware and employing professionals to manage and maintain storage servers. When your data is backed up to the cloud and your communications function via the cloud, you can quickly and easily continue business from any new location with an internet connection in an emergency scenario. Should the time come when your business is down, it pays to have a managed solutions provider you can count on to assist with Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity.