Jonathan PrewittLet’s get something straight right now: your tech will fail. Not “might,” not “could”—it will. One day, when you least expect it, your systems are going to go belly up, and it’s going to happen faster than you can say “I thought we had backups.”
So, what’s your plan? If your Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) is some outdated document that everyone’s too afraid to touch, you’re screwed. If you think your IT team will just wing it when the servers go dark, I’ve got news for you—that’s not a plan. It’s a delusion.
When Your Tech Fails (Because It Will)
You’ve probably got a fancy setup—maybe a shiny cloud infrastructure, maybe some high-end servers—but none of that matters when it all blows up in your face. And it will. Systems go down. Hardware dies. Software gets corrupted. Sometimes your entire infrastructure decides to take a dirt nap, and there you are, scrambling like it’s the apocalypse.
Here’s the thing: your Disaster Recovery Plan isn’t just an IT issue. It’s a whole-business crisis, and if you don’t have a rock-solid DRP in place, congratulations—you’ve just handed your competitors a gift basket with a big bow on top.
Why Most Disaster Recovery Plans Suck (And Yours Probably Does Too)
Let’s not kid ourselves—most companies’ DRPs are complete garbage. They look good on paper, but when it comes time to use them? Poof—they fall apart like wet tissue paper. Here’s why:
- IT Tunnel Vision: Most DRPs focus only on the tech—getting the servers back online, rebooting systems. But if your plan doesn’t include the rest of your business, you’re toast. It’s not just about the tech, it’s about getting your entire operation back on its feet.
- Partial Failures? Think Again: Sure, some plans assume a partial failure—one server goes down, a glitch here, a power outage there. What happens when everything goes down? And don’t think it won’t. If your plan isn’t built for total annihilation, it’s not a plan—it’s wishful thinking.
- Nobody Ever Tests It: Be honest—when was the last time you actually tested your DRP? Never? Thought so. A DRP that hasn’t been tested is about as reliable as a parachute you packed in a hurry. You better hope you never have to use it, because spoiler alert: it’s going to fail.
- Backups Are a Joke: Most companies don’t even know if their backups are good until they need them. And by then? Too late. You’ll find out the hard way that your backups are outdated, incomplete, or just plain missing. Good luck explaining that to your board while your business is circling the drain.
What a Real Disaster Recovery Plan Looks Like (Hint: Not Yours)
Here’s what a real Disaster Recovery Plan looks like—it’s not some kumbaya feel-good document. It’s your last lifeline. When everything’s gone to hell, it’s the only thing keeping your business alive. So, what does it need?
- Critical Systems and Data:
- Let’s start with the basics: what’s critical? If you don’t know what systems and data you can’t live without, just stop now. You’re already done. You need a priority list of what to restore first—your financial systems, customer databases, sales platforms, and operations systems. This isn’t a guessing game. When things go down, you need a roadmap.
- Recovery Time Objective (RTO):
- How long can you be down before you start hemorrhaging money, losing customers, and spiraling into chaos? That’s your Recovery Time Objective. And guess what? If your RTO is a wild guess, you’re in trouble. You need to get real about how long you can afford to be offline.
- If you think everything will be back up in an hour, dream on. Get honest about how long recovery really takes, and prioritize based on that.
- Recovery Point Objective (RPO):
- How much data can you lose before your business goes into a death spiral? That’s your Recovery Point Objective. If you’re only backing up once a week, you’re about to lose an entire week of data when disaster strikes. And no, your customers won’t give you a free pass on that one.
- If your backups aren’t happening often enough to meet your RPO, it’s time to rethink everything. Because when you’re hit, and you realize you’ve lost a week’s worth of transactions, good luck digging out of that hole.
- Step-by-Step Restoration:
- This isn’t a time for vague instructions. Your DRP needs step-by-step directions for restoring each system. And no, “turn the servers back on” isn’t enough. You need to know what comes first, how to restore the data, and exactly who’s doing what.
- Every minute counts. And if your team is standing around trying to figure out who’s responsible for what, congratulations—you’ve already lost the race. Your plan needs to be execution-ready, not a collection of nice ideas.
- Communicating During Recovery:
- When disaster hits, communication usually goes out the window. Your DRP needs a clear communication strategy—internally and externally. Who needs to be informed? What do you tell your customers? How do you keep everyone in the loop when systems are down and everyone’s losing their minds?
- And guess what? If you’re not controlling the narrative, someone else will. Your customers don’t want radio silence—they want to know what the hell is going on.
- Backup Locations:
- If your primary data center goes up in flames, you better have a backup location ready to go. Cloud, offsite data centers, disaster recovery sites—you need redundancy, and you need it yesterday. One backup is never enough. You need multiple failovers, or you’re going to end up out of business faster than you can say “Oops.”
Stop Wishing—Start Testing
If you haven’t tested your Disaster Recovery Plan, newsflash: you don’t actually have one. A DRP that hasn’t been stress-tested is like buying a car and never checking if the brakes work. You’re going to crash, and it’s going to hurt.
- Simulate the Disaster:
- Pull the plug. Literally. Shut down your systems and see what happens. How long does it take to get them back online? How much data do you lose? How much money are you burning every minute? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you’re flying blind.
- Backups: Are They Even Real?:
- Test your backups. Not once a year, not twice—regularly. You’d be shocked how often companies assume their backups are solid, only to find out they’re outdated or corrupt. If your backups aren’t reliable, then neither is your DRP. You need to check them like your business depends on it—because it does.
- Real-Time Drills:
- Run live drills. Make your team practice the plan in real time. Don’t warn them. Don’t prepare them. Just pull the trigger and see what happens. If you don’t know how people perform under pressure, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Find the gaps before reality does it for you.
The Crash You Didn’t Plan For: A Real Example
A global business once faced a complete data center meltdown—millions of dollars on the line, customers stranded, and no end in sight. The only reason they survived? They had a Disaster Recovery Plan that was battle-tested.
Their offsite backups kicked in, the recovery team knew their roles, and the critical systems were restored in hours, not days. The alternative? A complete collapse of their operations. If they hadn’t prepared, they’d still be picking up the pieces today.
From Paper to Reality: Make Your DRP Actually Work
A Disaster Recovery Plan isn’t just a “nice-to-have.” It’s your business’s lifeline when the tech gods decide to flip the switch and leave you in the dark. If your DRP is anything less than rock-solid, you’re going to learn the hard way.
- Update It Regularly: If your DRP hasn’t been updated in the last six months, it’s probably a museum piece. New threats pop up. New systems come online. Update it or lose it.
- Involve the Whole Business: Disaster recovery isn’t just for IT. Your whole company needs to know their part in this. If sales, marketing, and operations don’t know what to do when the lights go out, you’re in deep trouble.
- Make It Simple: If your DRP reads like a novel, nobody’s going to use it. Keep it short, clear, and actionable. The more complicated it is, the less likely it’ll work when disaster strikes.
Your Disaster Recovery Plan isn’t just a piece of paper—it’s the difference between recovery and collapse. Build it, test it, and get ready to use it. Because if you don’t, you’ll wish you had.
What’s Next: The Human Factor—When Your Team is the Weakest Link
Think your tech is the only thing you need to worry about? Guess again. In the next part of the series, we’re diving into the human element. Because your people? They’re often the biggest risk when things go wrong.
We’ll break down how to train, prepare, and build a team that doesn’t crumble under pressure. Stay tuned, because it’s about to get real.
Jonathan Prewitt