Compare and Contrast Various Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Planning Models
Compare and Contrast Various Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Planning Models
Introduction
Business continuity is essential as described by Hiles (2014). It is the ability of an organization to survive and thrive, survive and bounce back after a disaster or catastrophes. The general objective is to accomplish the mission for the organization no matter what disruptions happen along the way. Business continuity as described by Rima (2013) focuses on an organization's capacity to continue operations irrespective of the nature of interruption. The business continuity planning (BCP) which is a methodology that can be studied, and practitioners can be certified by Rima (2013) points out. The disaster recovery plan is considered a subset of BCP since it addresses stopping the effects of the disaster, catastrophe or event. After the consequences of the disaster or event have been resolved, business continuity activities typically begin. Business continuity as described by Hiles (2014) is the constant readiness of all necessary assets that support critical business functions. Business continuity management (BCM) offers the readiness of the process and resources following a disruption in the business to ensure the continued achievement of mission critical objectives.
Understanding Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery are two labels often used interchangeably. They do have overlapping elements, but they are not the same as described by Snedaker (2014). BCP is a model used to generate and validate a plan for sustaining continuous business operations at any time a disaster or disruptive events occurs. BCP as Snedaker (2014) points out is the management of the operational components that allows business to perform normally to generate revenues. BCP is often a concept that is used in evaluating various technology strategies. One company cannot tolerate any downtime another company can. A company can conclude that the cost for entirely redundant computer systems and or office space is worth the investment because downtime costs for a 5 or 10-minute outage could cost millions of dollars or cause irrecoverable harm to an organization. These types of organizations require their businesses run continuously, and their overall operational plans reflect this priority. Business continuity as described by Snedaker (2014) means keeping the organization running, regardless of the potential risk, threat, or cause of an outage.
Technology Dependence and Cost Considerations
Every business that relies on technology wants to avoid having to conduct business without that technology as Snedaker (2014) points out. Every business that relies on technology will be inconvenienced and disrupted to some degree to have to conduct business without that technology. The key driver for BCP as described by Snedaker (2014) is how much of a disruption to an organization is tolerable and is the company ready to spend money to avoid disruption. It is usually a balance between the two options. If money were no issue, every business using technology would probably elect to implement fully redundant, zero-downtime systems. However, money is an issue.
Disaster Recovery Model Components
A disaster recovery model is a part of or a subset of a business continuity plan and focuses on the direct impact of an event as Snedaker (2014) points out. The event that occurs might be that a business needs to recover from server patching or outage, cyber security break in, or earthquake, all these events fall into this classification. The disaster recovery model typically includes many distinct steps during the stages of planning. The steps can become unclear rapidly during execution because the situation during a crisis is almost never exactly to plan. The process of disaster recovery consists of stopping the effect of a catastrophe as fast as possible and focusing on the immediate result as Snedaker (2014) points out. A disaster could consist of shutting down a computer server that has been broken into, assessing which a flood or earthquake effect computer systems or networks, and determining the steps that are needed to recover from the disaster. During disaster recovery, at some point, business continuity activities begin to overlap. Some of the activities are where to set up temporary systems, how to acquire emergency replacement systems or parts, how to configure security in a new location. These are all questions that relate both to disaster recovery model and business continuity model but which are mainly focused on continuing business operations.
References
- Business Continuity Management by A. N. A. K. Hiles (2014) - Comprehensive guide covering business continuity management frameworks, constant readiness principles, and critical business function support strategies.
- Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals by C. Rima (2013) - Detailed resource on BCP methodology, certification pathways, and operational continuity strategies for IT professionals.
- Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals (2nd ed.) by S. Snedaker (2014) - Second edition textbook published by Syngress Media Incorporated examining the distinctions between BCP and DR models, technology strategy evaluation, and crisis management execution.