Persons new to recovery planning often find it difficult to differentiate between Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. In its simplest form, Business Continuity differs from Disaster Recovery in that its focus is on people and the continuation of business processes and objectives rather than the availability of IT systems and infrastructure.

Business Continuity Planning deals with taking pro-active measures to ensure continuity of business as well as plans to manage the response and recovery from a business interruption. The Business Continuity Plan would include a plan for the Command Team who will co-ordinate and oversee the response as well as sub-plans for the business units.

The IT Disaster Recovery Plan supports the recovery effort by detailing the IT system recovery priorities and time constraints, plans and strategies for recovery as well as detailed restoration procedures. The priorities and time constraints need to be driven from the business continuity requirements identified in the business impact analysis.

Of vital importance is getting Business Continuity Plans and IT Disaster Recovery Plans to dovetail in and work together to support one another in a recovery effort.

Need help integrating the pieces of the puzzle? Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Consulting