Don't get burned - Put some SPF 50 on your business continuity/disaster recovery plan

Business impact analysis can help cover your back

Your bags are packed, you checked them twice, yet at some point the thought will still cross your mind – "Am I forgetting something?"

On vacation, forgetting your sunscreen may lead to a painful burn, but forgetting key components of an organization's business continuity (BC)/disaster recovery (DR) plan hurts a lot more. Overlooking even one item can weaken your entire network and mean significant losses in revenue and productivity.

Companies fail the business continuity challenge

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Your bags are packed, you checked them twice, yet at some point the thought will still cross your mind – "Am I forgetting something?"

On vacation, forgetting your sunscreen may lead to a painful burn, but forgetting key components of an organization's business continuity (BC)/disaster recovery (DR) plan hurts a lot more. Overlooking even one item can weaken your entire network and mean significant losses in revenue and productivity.

Companies fail the business continuity challenge

In addition to sun burns, this time of the year often means hurricanes, tornados, severe thunderstorms, flooding and other network-threatening events. Whatever the cause of a major disruption to your network, don't waste time playing catch-up. Small and midsized businesses (SMB) should have a more methodical process than the common mental check list used for packing for a vacation. A well-managed and tested BC/DR plan will help prevent costly downtime and reduce inconvenience to workers.

Whether you are just getting started or refreshing an outdated plan, there is something to help SMBs make sure they are covered – running a business impact analysis. A BIA can help define key BC/DR needs. Even better, often times a trusted technology partner can provide assistance, running the analysis and delivering an objective assessment of what your organization needs to survive – literally and figuratively.

So what exactly is a BIA? A BIA is a breakdown of the potential risks and real vulnerabilities an organization is facing, and it provides direction for minimizing and mitigating the risks before they become a real problem. More so, it identifies the components of an organization's infrastructure that have the greatest business impact – making it clear which components require greater attention when it comes to allocating budget and other resources for BC/DR plans. (Microsoft vs. VMware: Who's better at disaster recovery?)

As with any new technology implementation, it is important to involve business stakeholders from the start of the BC/DR planning process, to understand their business priorities and help them understand the full repercussions of downtime. Fortunately, a BIA makes this easy; the analysis provides tangible, clear figures on what an outage or disruption may cost in lost revenue, productivity, equipment and so on. This information is invaluable in selling non-IT management on a new or increased investment in business continuity and disaster recovery measures.

You have read it in other "Talking Tech" articles on various topics, but it is worth mentioning again – SMBs typically cite purchase and transition costs as the main deterrent to adopting or adding a new technology, and this still rings true when it comes to developing and implementing BC/DR plans. There are always other clear, short-term needs to compete for the time and budget a BC/DR plan may claim. This is where the BIA's key findings can back up the requests for new technologies and help businesses see the big picture. It is important for business leaders to understand the true costs of poor planning or no planning.