The disaster recovery plan is a crucial element for the resilience of IT infrastructures

A company’s capability to quickly recover from a disaster and maintain business continuity is critical to its long-term success. However, many organisations underestimate the importance of having a robust disaster recovery and business continuity plan.
According to recent research by Osservatori Digital Innovation, responsibility for security in SMEs is entrusted to an internal figure in 19 per cent of cases, and even in 19 per cent there is no one in charge.
If, on the other hand, we look at large companies, responsibility for security is entrusted to the CISO in 40% of cases, to the CIO in 33% of cases, and in 10% of cases there is still no manager.

Why is it needed?

One of the main benefits of having an effective disaster recovery plan is the ability to quickly restore critical systems and data in the event of incidents, such as cyber attacks, or other physical damage.
Without a recovery plan, a company could face prolonged downtime, data loss and reputational damage, putting its very survival at risk.
Furthermore, a business continuity plan helps to ensure that an organisation can continue to operate even in emergency situations. This includes establishing alternative processes for critical activities, training staff on how to react in the event of incidents, and creating redundant backups for essential systems and data.
It is important to remember that a Disaster Recovery Plan is a sub-component of a broader business continuity plan, which deals with the continuity of all the operations of an organisation that do not only involve IT operations.

The main steps

To develop an effective disaster recovery and business continuity plan, it is important to follow a few key steps:
Assess the risks: Identify the most likely threats and the impact they could have on your business, such as cyber attacks or other physical damage.
Prioritise: Determine which systems and data are critical to business operations and set realistic recovery goals in terms of time and data.
Develop a recovery plan: Create detailed procedures for recovering critical systems and data, including regular backups and periodic testing of the plan.
Implement technology solutions: Adopt technologies such as virtualisation, cloud computing and data replication to improve resilience and recovery capability.
Train staff: Ensure that employees are trained on how to react in case of incidents and that they are aware of their roles and responsibilities in the disaster recovery plan.
Test and update regularly: Test the disaster recovery and business continuity plan at least once a year and update it according to changes in the organisation and new threats.
Gartner estimates that the average cost of downtime for a company affected by ransomware is about $300,000 per hour. This interruption of operations can lead to large losses in revenue.

Conclusions

Protecting corporate assets and ensuring business continuity are essential to a company’s resilience and success. By developing and implementing an effective disaster recovery and business continuity plan, organisations can reduce risks, protect data and ensure continuity of operations, even in the most challenging situations.