Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery

Disasters can occur in an instant and their effect can often be felt for years. Disasters can involve terrorist attack, human error, corruption, deceit, or failure of mission-critical processes or even suppliers; they can be the result of forces of nature or the consequence of malicious attack.

Business continuity management is the process of assessing and managing risk with the purpose of ensuring that the organisation can survive if the risks materialise.

Business continuity is not just concerned with disaster recovery. It addresses everything that could affect the continuity of service over the long term, such as the inability to meet a major contractual commitment, staff shortages in specialist areas or a telecom failure. Business continuity planning and disaster recovery planning are, therefore, fundamental to the well-being of an organisation. Clearly, they are intended to ensure continuity in the face of unforeseen or difficult circumstances.  Where required, these processes can also be developed in accordance with the Business Continuity Management standard, BS 25999.