Disasters seem to occur more frequently than ever — cybercrime, fires, earthquakes, floods. Planning for disaster scenarios has become a fixture in all aspects of business and nowhere is it more important than in an organization’s IT strategy and system resiliency.

A well-executed disaster recovery plan can be the difference between a business recovering from a disaster or closing its doors. Properly executed, a disaster plan enables a business to continue to serve its customers, produce its products and meet its business commitments to the greatest extent possible, as quickly as possible, following disaster events.

Ideally, preparing for a disaster begins with the design of the IT system. In this scenario, disaster recovery is part of the business’s overall IT strategy and system resiliency is engineered in from the beginning. Each service critical to the operation of the business such as email, file storage, e-commerce sites and business applications is identified. Multiple ways to assure continued access or prompt return to service are built-in.

Conducting a risk assessment is a good first step to evaluate the current state of the organization’s disaster preparedness. It should identify…Read more at NBBJ