What is Business Continuity vs Disaster Recovery?
When the ERP is down, disaster recovery brings the ERP back. Business continuity decides how sales, warehouse, finance and customer communication continue while recovery is happening. One restores the system; the other keeps the company functioning.
The Technical Explanation
Business continuity keeps critical business work moving during disruption. Disaster recovery restores servers, applications, data and user access. BCP covers people, processes, suppliers, premises and temporary workarounds; DR is the technical recovery component.
Business Impact
A complete plan needs both management and IT actions.
Warning Signs
- The company has a backup but no operating workaround
- The BCP document contains names of former employees
- No one has tested who declares a disaster
- IT can restore a server but departments cannot verify the application
- Suppliers and customer communication are not included
Practical Solution
1. Identify critical business processes 2. Map people, systems, suppliers and premises dependencies 3. Set approved RTO and RPO 4. Prepare manual or alternate work methods 5. Create technical recovery runbooks 6. Conduct tabletop and recovery tests
Frequently Asked Questions
Is backup the same as disaster recovery?
No. Backup is one recovery input. DR includes infrastructure, applications, access, dependencies, people and validation.
Does an SME need BCP?
Any SME that cannot tolerate prolonged disruption should have a proportionate continuity plan.
How often should plans be tested?
Testing frequency should reflect risk and change. Plans should also be reviewed after major system, staff or site changes.