Knowing your BC from DR

Before decision-makers can even consider the impact of business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) plans on their business, they need to school themselves in the difference between the two.

More importantly, the distinction needs to be made clear, so even the Luddite can understand. In other words, both the approach and the associated policies around BC and DR need to be 'human readable'. In this way, business decisions can be made more effectively without enforcing a view that these are things best left to IT departments and not relevant for the rest of the company.

According to Forrester, companies globally spent an average of 7% of their IT budgets on BC and DR in 2013. In addition, the consultancy has found that 19% of 438 surveyed companies have implemented DR as a service already, and a further 13% are planning to implement it through the course of the year.

Adding to this momentum, Gartner projects worldwide IT spending will hit $3.8 trillion this year, an increase of 3.1% from 2013. While this sounds significant, it is imperative that these plans are not the sole responsibility of the CIO or the IT department.

Looking at the difference between the two approaches, the reason for this becomes apparent.

As the name suggests, BC looks after the continuity of the business as a whole. So everything from desks to the fuel used in business-critical company vehicles, are factored into this. A business has many critical elements that need to be aligned to ensure it continues to operate in the event of a disaster. The BC plan takes all of this into account.

Sure, despite what happened recently in Orkney, there might not be that many earthquakes and tornadoes in SA to worry about, but there are other concerns. Think of the potential devastating impact that fire and flooding can have on a company. The recent strike action in the steel and mining industries is a prime example of a non-natural disaster impacting on the livelihood of a business. Many employees at factories and mines were unable to go to work, which had a very real impact on the operations of the companies.

On the other hand, DR is focused on the protection of critical IT systems that are key for normal business operations. Research conducted by cloud storage provider Backblaze has found that of the roughly 650 million hard disk drives put into service every year, up to a quarter of them can be expected to fail annually. It is therefore essential that companies need to factor this into their policies.

Given the connected nature of business today, many could be forgiven for thinking that DR and BC plans are interchangeable. Further adding to the confusion is the fact that there are technologies that help companies achieve both. However, DR is just one part of a BC plan and does not concern itself with anything other than IT.

Disaster can strike at any time and preparedness has become more business-critical than ever before.

Companies may think having a DR plan in place covers their IT systems, which could range from employee smartphones and tablets to servers and storage. The reality is that without a well-defined BC plan in place, a business may not have infrastructure to recover in case of a disaster.

And despite the pervasiveness of technology, even DR plans are not being adopted en masse. Research by Gartner has found only 35% of global businesses have some sort of DR plan in place. Even those companies which have implemented a DR plan often do not thoroughly understand what it entails.

But, how do South African companies stack up when even global ones are struggling?

Fortunately, the frequent power failures experienced in the country have increased awareness about the necessity of having BC and DR plans in place. Decision-makers have become all too aware of the negative impact on the bottom line due to time wasted when there is no electricity or Internet connectivity at the office.

In this regard, local businesses are better equipped than many others globally in terms of infrastructure and the awareness of the associated issues. However, a lot of work still needs to be done to continue driving education around the need for BC and DR plans and how they must integrate for the successful running of a business.

Ultimately, it is about getting started sooner rather than later to ensure all the proper policies and procedures are in place. Disaster can strike at any time and preparedness has become more business-critical than ever before.

The temptation might be there to throw more technology at the problem of addressing potential gaps in organisational BC and DR plans. However, if these plans are to succeed, companies need to be mindful of the human element. The best plans in the world will mean very little if they are not enforced and maintained by the people they are designed for.

Granted, there might be a fine-tuning of skills required to align employees to BC and DR, which could come at an additional cost, but the alternative is too costly to ignore.