These are the essential requirements for the provision of a DR Plan.
The most significant need for an organization to have a DR Plan is to ensure the safety of the employees and the survival of the organization from a disaster. Such a plan can only be achieved through advanced planning and preparation by all stakeholders.
Depending on the nature of the work performed, an organization may lose a considerable amount of money for every hour of downtime. Typically, Figure below shows the downtime results in the loss of revenue, customer goodwill and loss of market share.
For example, an IT downtime will result in the inability to deliver services to customers in time. A prolonged downtime would reduce the profitability and market value of the organization and ultimately result in business failure.
There is a high dependency on IT as the development of technology continues to enhance the delivery of business. With increased dependency on IT to deliver continuous business services, 24-by-7 availability of IT support systems has become a fundamental requirement. Innovative methods to support these business operations are being created and implemented. Some of these practices, such as remote connection to offices for continuous connectivity, may make an organization vulnerable to external attacks and more susceptible to disasters.
In today business environment, the survival of the business depends on its recovery and its availability within the shortest possible time. In the event of a disaster impacting the IT setup, all the important functions that are dependent on IT, such as communication and business transactions, will be hampered. Most organizations can sustain itself in the absence of such critical IT operations for a day or two. However, any prolonged interruption can result in severe and irreparable losses to the organization; sometimes resulting in the organization becoming insolvent. The organization can implement a DR Plan or program, to ensure the recovery of its IT operations in the shortest possible time, and prevent any potential calamities.
Organizations that are directly involved in supplying products and services to customers or clients are usually bound by a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to carry out their obligations. These agreements seek assurance from the suppliers that, in the face of disasters, the supply of deliverables will continue unhindered. When a commitment to high availability and quality service is made, it takes special effort on the part of the supplier to fulfill the SLAs. A key component of such efforts is to design, develop and implement an effective and efficient DR Plan.
In a DR Plan, list the recovery procedures to ensure that the organization resumes its operations within the shortest possible time. Because these procedures are defined by the occurrence of disasters, the entire DR Plan reflects the effectiveness and preparedness of the organization to meet the challenges of disasters. A pre-planned list of the recovery procedures, therefore, helps to facilitate faster and effective recovery IT operations and services during a disaster event.
DR Planning often leads to the improvement of processes and IT systems that make those processes and systems more resilient. Events that would result in a severe business interruption before you had the DR Plan in place become, in many cases, just a minor event after you enact the plan.
There are very few organizations have never experienced an incident or event that resulted in the loss of data. Many organizations are not aware that failing to secure their information and protect data against loss can be a serious offense. If an organization fails to exercise this due care, it could face civil or criminal.
Extracted from "Chapter 4: Project Management: Step 1: Establish the Need for DR Planning"
Goh, M. H. (2016). A Manager's Guide to Implementing Your IT Disaster Recovery Plan. Business Continuity Management Specialist Series (2nd ed.). Singapore: GMH Pte Ltd.