A disaster recovery plan is something that every company should invest in, no matter its size, location or industry. Being offline or out of service for any period of time can have sudden and significant negative impacts. A strong disaster recovery plan will help a business get back online quicker while minimizing damages.

While there are obvious benefits to having a disaster recovery plan, having a poor plan is almost as bad as having no plan at all. Here are three things to avoid when creating a disaster recovery plan:

Recovery versus avoidance

Though the main focus of a disaster recovery plan is to establish procedures to help your company after an incidents, there are many things that can be done proactively to help avoid events in the first place. For example, if your office is located in a earthquake prone area, offsite data backups can be created in a separate part of the country to make sure nothing is lost. 

Human vulnerabilities

As employees are the ones who will put a disaster recovery plan into action as the situation arises, failing to include them into the plan will render it all but useless. Education and cross-training will help keep your employees in the loop and ensure they can help when needed.

Testing

The first test of a disaster recovery plan should not be when a disaster occurs. Schedule regular tests of the plan to ensure its effectiveness. Backups and any infrastructure needed for critical operations should be consistently tested as well, so that they can be used when a disaster occurs. 

Addressing these and many other aspects of your disaster recovery planning and preparedness can be made easier with the help of experienced and knowledgeable business continuity consultants.