Business continuity vs. Disaster recovery

People often get confused between these the terms of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery as replaceable, though they are not identical, both have a different scope and nature. Every enterprise, be it a small one or a large one, needs both these plan for the efficient functioning of a business.

What is Business Continuity?

Business continuity is a term which is used to fortify that even if there an occurrence of a disaster, business operations will continue to work.
Business Continuity is a plan of action which is based on continuous analysis of critical business activities.
Business Continuity is proper management of the business operations and process which is pre-planned, no matter if the disaster occurs or not.
Business Continuity makes a list of critical activities of the business and prioritizes the most critical.
Business Continuity considers paper-based emergency alternatives.
The business continuity plan was popularized by the Y2k disaster, a millennium bug or defect in the system faced by all the users of computers in the world in the year 2000.

What is Disaster Recovery?

Disaster Recovery plans are really very important for a business to run smoothly which consists of support systems like IT assets, hardware, etc.
These support systems minimize the risks of technical failure, machine inaccessibility, non-availability of inputs like labor, raw materials, machinery, etc.
These disaster recovery plans help the business to get back to its normal position in the shortest possible time.
Disasters can be of any types, like hardware failures, security breaches, machinery failure, etc.
Business failure occurs due to the lack of a properly written plan.

What are the differences between Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity?

Business Continuity	Disaster Recovery
Business Continuity is a plan of action.	Disaster Recovery is a subpart of the Business Continuity plans.
The business continuity plans make sure that regular business activities and processes are going on even if the disaster occurs.	Disaster Recovery plans consist of the systems which will be taken help of if a disaster occurs so that the business doesn’t fail and continues to grow.
Business Continuity analyzes not only how the activities would be restored but also how much the employees and the customers would be affected and what action they will take if such a disaster takes place.	Disaster Recovery plans only analyze the minimum possible time in which it can restore the business operations.
Business Continuity is wider in scope and analyzes a larger picture of the business.	Disaster Recovery is narrower in scope and only analyzes a small part of the business.
Business Continuity is a global solution which includes all the processes which can assure the continuity of the business.	Disaster Recovery is related to all the technical measures which can manage a possible disaster in the shortest possible time
It is a proactive plan.	It is a reactive plan.

Why Business Continuity plan matters?

Identification of risks: Business Continuity plans help to identify the risks which may occur while carrying out the business operations and activities.
Identification of critical activities of the business: Business Continuity plan helps to identify the most critical activities that are really necessary to stay in business or else the business would fail.
Recovery Plan: Business Continuity helps to create a recovery plan for any possible disaster that might hit the business.

Benefits of Business Continuity:

Confidence: It builds confidence in the employees as they know what they are expected to do if a crisis arises. They can easily assess the risk levels associated with business operations and are able to fix them smoothly.
Preserves brand value: A business continuity plan can recover the lost data smoothly and in turn, helps to maintain the reputation and carefully created brand value of the business.
Competitive advantage: Today, it’s a very tough thing to recover from a disaster and resume the business process. If you have a business continuity plan and your competitor doesn’t, then you are surely going to recover faster than that of your competitor who may or may not be able to bounce back from the situation.

Importance of Disaster Recovery:

Reduction of Outrage or Downtime: None of the business would like to have any technical failures or non-availability of materials. But because one can’t predict the uncertainties, there is a real need for Disaster recovery planning which minimizes the downtime in the shortest possible duration.
Limits liability: If any disaster occurs there is a fair chance that you might lose a lot of important data. But when you have got a through Disaster recovery plan, it can help you to know the possible consequences and prepare the situations in advance. It lets you keep the backup of the data somewhere so that you can restore other operations smoothly.
Responsibility and Accountability: Through a proper Disaster Recovery planning, the management understands who is responsible and accountable for what works and in what way.
Reduction of overall damage: Disaster often destroys most of the stuff which is obviously difficult to get back without the help of Disaster Recovery service. Disaster Recovery helps to maintain and preserve the business reputation and keeps the bonds with the clients secure. A disaster recovery plan is very helpful as it helps the business comply with the industry standards and regulations even in case of losses.
A proper outline: Disaster Recovery plans outline how a company has to prepare for a disaster, how it has to react to a disaster, how it will recover from a disaster.

Benefits of Disaster Recovery:

Cost Effective: With a Disaster Recovery service, the business can avoid the cost of lost revenue or lost customers, investors and employees as well. Disaster Recovery Plans helps to recover way faster.
Assets Management: Disaster Recovery puts all the stocks of the assets in a proper location where it can’t be affected by the disasters, and the management can easily access the assets as they are kept in an orderly manner.
Network Management: Disaster Recovery plan maintains detailed documentation of the network techniques which help the management to choose the best-suited computer network to fix an issue.

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