Why 2021 is a Turning Point for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning

Let’s be real. Few companies’ business continuity and disaster recovery planning included global pandemic.

It didn’t impact data or systems availability that disaster recovery (DR) programs typically focus on. Yet, the pandemic massively disrupted the business world.

Suddenly, companies needed to find ways for employees to work remotely. Where offices could remain open, new ways of working together – and sharing information and data – needed to be implemented. From top to bottom, it forced businesses to take a hard, honest look at their systems.

And for most, their business continuity and disaster recovery planning became a major focus.

As organizations have peeled back the curtain on legacy DR technologies, many are recognizing that their DR programs can't keep up with the demands — and risks — of today's digital, cloud-driven, 24/7/365 business world.

Businesses are also realizing that, while they may have weathered the Covid storm, they may be less prepared than they thought to deal with much more common events, whether it’s technology failure, a natural disaster, ransomware, or simple user error.

DR is even more critical in a post-pandemic world

The statistics above were reported when 2020 began. At that point, those numbers proved concerning.

But to say that “things have changed” would be understatement. Our world of work has evolved dramatically in the past year, with a widespread shift to remote, flexible work for many. This shift makes businesses fundamentally reliant on their remote employees’ continuous access to cloud-hosted applications.

As a result, businesses need to manage an immense, decentralized digital ecosystem. And it’s a system with vastly more potential “fail points” (including many more third party-hosted apps) than a year ago.

The pandemic also revealed that DR is not just about ensuring people have access to systems — it’s also about ensuring companies have access to their people.

In other words, if your employees are remote and your networks are down, how do IT staff execute critical DR tasks? And if your IT staff are sick and unable to work, do you have a backup plan for your backup plan?