A disaster recovery plan can help you as you work to recover from a major disaster like a tornado or a cyber attack. There are many important parts of a disaster recovery plan, like the documentation, testing the plan, and having a place to save your data.
Although those are all important, arguably the most important part of any disaster recovery plan is people.
People in your organization are the ones who will actually be putting the disaster recovery plan into action. As a result, getting the people part of the plan right is absolutely vital.
Here are a few ways to better equip the people behind your disaster recovery plan.
Get People the Right Access
Anyone on your team who might be affected by the disaster recovery plan should be familiar with the plan well before a disaster ever strikes. It’s helpful to let everyone know what passwords and levels of access they will need to do their part if a disaster does occur.
Have Alternates
When was the last time that every single person in your organization was simultaneously available when you needed them? Probably never.
The fact of the matter is that someone is always going to be unavailable, including during a disaster. If someone isn’t able to complete their part of the plan after a disaster, what will you do?
Having an alternate person ready to complete each responsibility is a good way to avoid available problems.
Develop a Strong Team
Creating the team that will execute your organization’s disaster recovery plan is one of the most impactful parts of the process. Your disaster recovery team should have people with all different types of expertise to address any potential problem or concern.
For example, Vmware highlights the importance of having a leadership role for crisis management, an expert to ensure business continuity, a team with expertise in IT infrastructure, and a role for IT applications.
As mentioned in “Implementing a Disaster Recovery Process,” [insert hyperlink] they also recommend including executive management and representatives from each of the lines of business.
Make Your Documentation Easy for Anyone to Follow
An often overlooked detail of disaster recovery planning is making sure all the documentation is easy for anyone to follow. In a disaster situation, you never know who might be executing part of the disaster recovery plan. It could be a new hire or someone who changed departments and hasn’t seen the plan before. If either of those is the case, the plan needs to be easily understandable, even to people who aren’t already familiar with it. Working with an outside consultant can be a big help here.
Bring People into Your Risk Assessment
Talk to people in your organization to find out what they think the most likely causes of service interruption could be. Learn from their expertise.
Keep People in the Loop
Don’t just share your disaster recovery plan with your disaster recovery team. Send the plan to all employees who will be involved with or affected by DR procedures.
Test Things Out
Testing is an important part of developing the plan.
Try a tabletop test, for example, which involves stakeholders reading and walking through the steps of the plan together. It sounds simple but can help everyone learn their roles and notice any problems. Running a simulation is another good option.
In summary, people are key to your disaster recovery plan.
Reach out to 911 PC Help for assistance in developing or implementing a disaster recovery plan for your business.