The world seems to be getting increasingly unpredictable. Natural disasters, pandemics, cyberattacks, and other unanticipated events are happening with increasing frequency. This can make it challenging to develop a comprehensive business continuity strategy that helps your organization thrive in even the most trying of circumstances. Resiliency and disaster recovery are two distinct but complementary strategies for safeguarding your organization in times of crisis. Both strategies help you prepare for potential emergencies and recover from a disruption as quickly as possible. The best business continuity plan will likely combine elements of each of these techniques. In this post, we’ll explain the differences between resiliency and disaster recovery, as well as when each is most suitable for your organization.
What is Resiliency?
Resiliency is a company's ability to withstand disruption and continue to operate effectively. Resiliency strategies help your organization cope with potential challenges, such as an extended power outage, and continue operating smoothly, even in times of great stress and uncertainty. Resiliency is all about fostering a culture of preparedness through training, planning and employee engagement. A resilient organization will have defined processes in place to help employees respond to challenges in an efficient and coordinated manner. Resiliency is about being ready for whatever comes your way, so that you can continue doing your job, serving customers, and helping the organization thrive, even when disruptive events occur. Some of the ways to improve resiliency include: - Identifying and assessing threats to your business - This includes natural and manmade disasters as well as other challenges. - Strengthening your organization’s critical functions - This includes, for example, improving employee communication or strengthening your IT infrastructure. - Providing appropriate training to employees on how to respond to potential challenges - This can include instruction on evacuation procedures as well as who to contact during a disaster.
What is Disaster Recovery?
Disaster recovery (DR) is the process of quickly and efficiently restoring your business operations following an unplanned disruption. DR plans are designed to help your organization return to normal as quickly as possible following a major disruption, such as a natural disaster, cyberattack, pandemic, or other major event. A comprehensive DR plan should include both a contingency plan and a disaster recovery plan (DR plan). The contingency plan will help you respond to challenges before they become disasters. The disaster recovery plan will help you respond to challenges and recover as quickly as possible once they occur. A typical DR plan will include the following components: - Risk assessment - This is the assessment described above in the section on resiliency. - Business impact analysis - This will help you determine which critical business functions need to be restored first following a disruption. - Contingency plan - This outlines the actions you should take in the event of a disruption, in order to minimize the impact on your critical business functions. - Disaster recovery plan - This outlines the steps you should take to fully restore your business functions after the disruption has passed.
Understanding the Differences Between Resiliency and Disaster Recovery
While both resiliency and disaster recovery are about preparedness, the two strategies are distinct in many respects. Disaster recovery is generally concerned with the aftermath of a disruption, while resiliency is focused on anticipating challenges before they occur. Disaster recovery primarily looks to restore your organization’s critical functions, while resiliency focuses on strengthening the entire organization. Resiliency is primarily an organizational issue, while disaster recovery is largely a technological issue.
When to Use Resiliency Strategies
A resilient organization can withstand and potentially even thrive in the face of any challenge. Avoiding disasters is always the first choice, but there will always be challenges that you can’t foresee. A resilient organization is ready to tackle any challenge they face without significant disruption to their operations. Resiliency strategies can help you strengthen your organization in a variety of ways. They can help you improve employee engagement and communications, strengthen your critical functions, and develop contingency and DR plans. These strategies can help you build a strong organization that is better able to withstand any challenges that may come your way.
When to Use Disaster Recovery Strategies
A comprehensive DR plan will help you respond as quickly as possible when a disruption does occur. Having a DR plan in place will help you follow the correct steps for a timely and effective recovery. A DR plan is designed to help you restore your critical business functions as quickly as possible following an unplanned disruption. Some DR plans can restore a business in as little as a few hours or days. Your organization may need to build a robust DR plan to fully recover after a major disruption. This will vary based on the nature of your business. A large financial services company, for example, may need a different type of DR plan than a small technology company. For the financial services company, restoring full operations may mean reopening the stock exchange. For the technology company, it may mean restoring a website or online service.
Summary
Resiliency and disaster recovery are two distinct but complementary strategies for safeguarding your organization in times of crisis. Both strategies help you prepare for potential emergencies and recover from a disruption as quickly as possible. The best DR plan will likely combine elements of each of these techniques. In order to achieve the best results, you should consider the needs of your business when selecting which resiliency and disaster recovery strategies to employ.
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