How to Build a World-Class Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Team

In the digital world, how does one deal with system failure? There exists no perfect computing system, and failure is guaranteed to occur at some point. The next logical step would be to prepare for its eventual occurrence and try to mitigate the system’s costs going offline. How can an organization do this? The answer is to create a team specifically tasked with dealing with this problem.

What Is Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity?

Business continuity planning is the process of creating backup systems to deal with a potential threat to a company. Through vigilance and proper planning, it helps an organization withstand changes in its environment and still operate. Disaster recovery is the set of procedures followed to assist the recovery of vital infrastructure and technology following a disaster. Though bearing a lot in common, disaster recovery focuses on IT or technological systems, whereas business continuity focuses on the business’ key areas.

Why Is Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Important?

Some advantages of disaster recovery and business continuity are:

1. Companies with existing policies to manage disasters and system failures have increased the stability of operations. This reliability will allow the organization to maintain its performance and reduce overhead costs of dealing with a disaster.

2. Zero productivity is the result of a loss of business continuity. With disaster recovery and business continuity plans, it becomes possible to recover with minimum damage and asset loss. This helps secure the overall profit margin.

Should Your Company Practice Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery?

Like a car getting insured, business continuity and disaster recovery are insurance against natural or human-made disasters. If the question is whether your company should practice it or not, the answer is yes. By preparing for and managing damage from disasters and failures, it becomes possible for the organization not to be affected in the best-case scenario and get back up and running much faster in the worst-case scenario.

Role of a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Team

Now that you’ve decided to invest in disaster management and recovery, the need for a team to handle this becomes quickly apparent. The entire process’ complexity requires a team that understands how the business and systems in the organization operate. The team would need to know the whole business inventory, including equipment, suppliers and supplies, locations and documentation on the business. The team is also responsible for impact analysis, threat analysis, and impact scenarios. A potential business threat may require unique recovery steps. A tiered rank of preparedness is also prepared, and the final solution is designed by the disaster recovery and business continuity team. The answer is then implemented and tested, and if successful, maintained by the team.

Skills Required for Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

The nature of these policies requires a certain level of skill is necessary. To carry out disaster recovery, computer skills are a must. A member of the team needs to be skilled in networking and network administration. Database and application specialists are also required. A DevOps developer is needed for fast prototyping of solutions. A system analyst must evaluate the system, while a security expert must create security policies for handling application failure.

What Roles Do Training and Certification Play?

For businesses to carry out these policies, their employees must stay updated on the latest technology trends. An organization can use online certifications to ensure their employees are up to the task. Combining online training from industry professionals and hands-on practice can generate a higher quality plan which is continuously being updated.

Looking to get your organization a business continuity plan or are you a professional looking to join a disaster recovery team? Here at EC-Council, we offer numerous certifications and hands-on training to give you the know-how and skill to properly implement and take part in disaster recovery and business continuity teams. Our practical hands-on approach makes sure that you have the practical knowledge of carrying out plans to complete our certifications.

Are you looking to implement a business continuity plan? At , we have several certifications to help you on your way to implementing a business continuity and disaster recovery program for your organization. With our iLabs, we also provide practical training in implementing disaster recovery and business continuity programs for your organization.

Source: eccouncil.org