Thankfully, an in-depth disaster recovery plan that’s regularly reviewed and well-maintained can work wonders, ensuring that in the event of a crisis, the impact on your business is minimal.

Here are just a few things your disaster recovery plan should cover:

1. An analysis of potential threats

The very first step when creating a disaster recovery plan should involve the recording of all potential threats to your business’ devices, tools, operations and data. From natural disasters to malicious hacks, there’s a lot to consider – though not all potential issues will be applicable for every business.

Once you’ve identified each scenario, it’s time to look for ways to respond to these issues. How can you minimise the impact these would have on your business? Is there someone you must contact at the first sign of a problem? Who can help you?

2. A business impact assessment

It’s equally important to acknowledge the impact a disaster can have on your business, no matter how scary these things can be to think about.

Carrying out a business impact assessment allows you to identify and evaluate the impact that the aforementioned threats could pose on everything from your company’s finances to the safety of your employees.

Be sure to also analyse the impact a crisis could have on your legal/contractual obligations, ability to abide by government legislation, and your reputation.

Your business impact assessment will also make it easier for you to set out your priorities and work out which resources to devote to each challenge.

3. Evaluate the role employees play

When creating a disaster recovery plan, many businesses spend so much time focusing on technology that they forget the role employees play in both disaster prevention and recovery. They also often overlook the impact a disaster can have on their staff.

Spend some time thinking about how your team can work together to minimise a disaster in the first place and invest in training so that should a problem arise, everyone knows what their responsibilities are.

4. Assess how frequently updates are required

We sometimes speak to business owners filled with tremendous pride over their thorough disaster recovery plans, only for us to delve a little deeper and discover that they’ve failed to update their plans for years.

Your disaster recovery plan needs to be assessed and altered to coincide with any significant changes to the way your business is run, the introduction of new devices, and the adoption of new tools or systems.

With so many other aspects of your business to think about, it’s understandable that a disaster recovery plan may not appear high on your to-do list. Nevertheless, it’s always wise to prepare for the worst. If you’re feeling out of your depth or you’d simply like to pass the responsibility over to a dedicated team of disaster recovery experts, we can help. To learn more, please get in touch with the team at Prism.