How to create a decent BC/DR Strategy

Next month marks 15 years since the Buncefield disaster.  For those unaware of the disaster, a major fire at an oil storage facility in Hemel Hempstead, resulted in an explosion which ripped through the nearby business park and housing estates.

This had a huge impact to businesses close by.  And as a result. I was tasked to provide a business continuity, and disaster recovery strategy.

It is as critical today, to any business to have a mature BC/DR plan as it has at any time. Technology has changed, and in many ways so have the risks.

Here are some points which have put me in good stead, for a decent strategy:

• BC and DR are the responsibility of the business and NOT just the I.T. department. Even today, not everything that could impact the business, involves technology. Stakeholders like the CEO, or CIO will also need to sign off any expenditure. Involvement is critical!
• List your utilities, hardware, applications, processes, security and people. Brainstorm again and again!
• Determine your single points of failure. Run through scenarios. For example, what happens when you have a power cut? Internet router fails? And so on…
• Know your risks. Are they acceptable? Not everything is critical, and it’s important to focus on just those initially. 
• How much downtime can the business withstand? Your recover time objective (or RTO). Again, this will be very different for every business. This needs to be determined at board level or NOT by I.T!
• And the recovery point objective, or the amount of time/data loss is acceptable. Generally, the smaller the RPO. The more expensive the solution. Again, a decision of the board.
• Document everything and recovery steps! Really, really important. You will need to refer to this, if brown stuff hits the fan!!
• Regularly test and validate your plan. Make sure that everyone in the I.T. team are involved at some point, during testing.
• Constantly review. There will be changes in your environment. Whether it’s technology, partners, or people. Put a review in your diary!

I’ve kept this brief. And this is a huge subject, but I hope you finds this of use.