Disaster Recovery Principles and Practices

However, even with the improvement in technology, software and IT systems, some emergency situations can happen in business or even case of cyber-attacks and may affect business continuity. When such disasters strike, business is affected and suffers. These could be disasters such as OS failures. Therefore, having an intelligent disaster recovery plan is critical for any company to protect the essential business operations that maintain the continuity of business. The main goal for a disaster recovery plan is to minimize disruptions of the operations of the business and more importantly the delivery of products and services when a disaster occurs. Additionally, the disaster recovery plan copies will be stored in secure places within the organization, and all the members will be issued with a hard copy and CD of the same.

Also, this plan will also include the agreed backup strategies for the business process. This plan also consists of a risk management section which addresses the various potential threats that can disrupt the operations of the business. This section provides the assessed threats and the results likely to arise from those threats. The aim for this is to give an estimation of the extent of ion disruption that each of these risks could cause. This plan is active and reliable in any case of whatever type of disaster that occurs. Importantly, a disaster recovery plan has the recovery process which is organized in a team concept for it the process to be effective. Each of these teams has their roles and responsibility when it comes to the recovery process.

Disaster Recovery Phases For a disaster recovery strategy to be established, it must go through the following phases. Firstly, the assessment phase, this is the phase from the point when the disaster occurs to the point which the disaster is completely under control, and the damage can be assessed. It is during this phase that the disaster recovery process is thoroughly reviewed, deficiencies corrected and the entire plan updated. Key Recovery Activities With the above phases of disaster recovery, the following are the critical activities carried out when a disaster is declared. • Activating the recovery plan and notifying the team leaders • Getting an alternate location and redirecting the voice service to this location. • Replacing equipment • Reinstalling the software and data as well as reconfiguring the network.

• Keeping all the stakeholders informed that is; the management, users and the public Recovery Time Objectives When a disaster occurs, there should be an estimated recovery time for system configurations and operations. • Offering training to the assigned disaster recovery plan teams. • Testing and the disaster recovery plan. • Making evaluations on the disaster recovery plan tests. • Making reviews, changes and updates on the disaster recovery plan just as required. Additionally, in the event of a disaster the disaster recovery plan coordinator will have the following responsibilities; • He/she will facilitate the communication between the technical and non-technical staff. • Establishing the command centre • Ensuring that all the efforts of the other teams are well coordinated • Communicating with the insurance provider and securing finances for the recovery process • Backing up actions that were not planned • Providing strategic direction and offering guidance to those employees who seem to need it or those who ask for it.

• Ensuring that only the right information about the disaster is passed on to the employees and the public Importantly, after the disaster, it is the responsibility of this team to recommend the improvements that can be made on the plan and changes that can be made on the same (Rubin, 2009). The Technical Support Team Each of these teams under the technical support team has the following roles. The hardware team This team ensures that the equipment needed for the new location is ordered and that the replacements are necessary for hardware are made. This team installs and configures the equipment with new or recovered data. This team ensures that all the operations still run even in the alternate place. During the return home phase, this team performs system and production backups and transports all the files back from the alternate location to the primary position.

Importantly, this disaster recovery plan requires that there is a clear understanding among personnel on who to contact in the event of a disaster. Some procedures can ensure effective communication when the need to activate the disaster recovery plan arises. The person who discovers the incident should call a member of the emergency team. This assessment includes; Loss of any revenue, cash, business documents or theft of the same. Additionally, after a disaster, the needs of the company are addressed which could include; cash flow, payrolls, and the company's credit cards to pay for post-disaster expenses just a few to mention. Disaster recovery Plan Exercising During the development of the disaster recovery plan, exercising on the same is essential. This exercise is vital for learning where no one passes or fails, but everyone learns and becomes more familiar with their roles and more confident with their capabilities.