Disaster Recovery Journal Fall 2025

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n If leadership doesn’t champion continuity, employees won’t either. Example: A logistics company developed a business continuity strategy but excluded executive leadership from the process. When severe flooding disrupted distribution hubs, they needed immedi ate approval to reroute shipments using premium carriers. Leadership hesitated due to cost concerns, creating major delays that led to contractual penalties and lost customers. How to secure buy-in: n Speak in business terms. Instead of saying, “We need a plan,” say, “Every hour of downtime costs us $X. Here’s how BC reduces that risk.” n Show impact with numbers. Use industry data or internal metrics to illustrate financial loss and reputational damage. n Tie BC to strategic goals. Position it as risk management, compliance, and customer trust. Not just an operational task. Mistake 4: Overcomplicating the Plan

How to avoid it: n Engage all departments. Include process owners from every major business unit when developing your plan. n Clarify definitions. Business continuity ensures essential operations continue during a disruption. IT disaster recovery is one component of that strategy. n Map dependencies. Understand how people, processes, technology, and vendors interact. Mistake 2: Skipping the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) The BIA is the foundation of any strong BC plan. It identifies which processes are critical, the resources needed to keep them running, and the potential consequences of downtime. Skipping the BIA is like build ing a house without a blueprint. What happens when you skip it: n Recovery priorities become guesswork. n Non-essential functions may get more resources than critical ones. n Maximum tolerable downtime (MTD), recovery time objectives (RTOs), and recovery point objectives (RPOs) are unrealistic or undefined. Example: A retail company decides email recov ery is top priority because “communication is critical.” However, their point-of-sale system (POS) goes down during a major shopping weekend, costing millions in lost sales. A proper BIA would have identified POS as the higher priority. How to avoid it:

A BC plan should be practical and easy to follow during high-stress situations. Unfortunately, many organizations create plans that are too complex. Hundreds of pages, loaded with jargon, and impossible to use during an actual crisis.

A BC plan should be practical and easy to follow during high-stress situ ations. Unfortunately, many organiza tions create plans that are too complex. Hundreds of pages, loaded with jargon, and impossible to use during an actual crisis. Why complexity kills usability: n People don’t have time to read through lengthy documents in an emergency. n Complex plans discourage regular updates, leading to outdated information. Example: During a regional power outage, a manufacturing company’s continuity plan was a 150-page PDF. Employees couldn’t find the right section quickly, leading to confusion and production delays. How to simplify: n Focus on usability. Use clear checklists and concise instructions. n Keep language simple. Avoid technical jargon; anyone should be able to follow it. n Highlight key actions. Bold critical steps and make contact lists easy to find. “

Start simple. Begin by identifying your top 10 processes. Ask: n What happens if this process stops for one hour? One day? One week? n How does it impact revenue, customer service, compliance, and reputation? Engage leadership. Get agreement on what is truly critical. Mistake 3: Failing to Get Executive Buy-In Without leadership support, your BC program will struggle to gain the resources and visibility it needs. Why it’s critical: n Executives control budgets and set organizational priorities.

34 DISASTER RECOVERY JOURNAL | FALL 2025