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October 13, 2025
When disaster strikes—whether it's a cyberattack, power outage, or natural disaster—your business needs to respond fast. That’s where having the right plans in place makes all the difference. In this blog, you’ll learn the key differences between business continuity and disaster recovery, how each supports your operations, and why both are essential. We’ll also break down common mistakes, benefits, and practical steps to help you protect your business functions and restore normal operations quickly.
Business continuity and disaster recovery are often used together, but they serve different purposes. Business continuity focuses on keeping your business running during a disruption. Disaster recovery is about restoring systems and data after the disruption ends.
A business continuity plan (BCP) outlines how to maintain essential business operations during an interruption. It includes steps to keep your team working, even if your main office or systems are down. A disaster recovery plan (DRP), on the other hand, focuses on how to recover IT systems, data, and infrastructure after a failure. Both are vital, but they tackle different parts of the problem.
Understanding the business impact of each approach helps you prepare for everything from cyberattacks to supplier failures. When you know the difference, you can build stronger plans that reduce downtime and protect your critical business functions.
Even well-meaning businesses make errors when building their BCP and DRP. Here are six mistakes that can put your recovery at risk:
Many companies think business continuity and disaster recovery are the same. They’re not. Continuity is about keeping things running during a crisis. Recovery is about getting systems back after the crisis ends. Mixing them up can leave gaps in your response.
Skipping a business impact analysis means you won’t know which business functions are most critical. Without this, you can’t prioritize what needs to be protected or restored first. That can delay recovery and increase costs.
A plan that looks good on paper might fall apart in practice. Regular testing shows whether your team can follow the plan and whether your systems respond as expected. Without testing, you’re guessing.
Your business changes over time. So should your continuity and recovery plans. If your DRP or BCP is outdated, it may not reflect current systems, staff, or risks.
Suppliers and partners can affect your recovery. If a key supplier goes down, your operations might too. Make sure your plans account for external risks.
During a crisis, clear communication is essential. If your team doesn’t know what to do or who’s in charge, confusion will slow your response. Include communication steps in your plans.
Having both a business continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan offers several advantages:
Knowing the difference between business continuity vs disaster recovery helps you build stronger protection for your business. If you only focus on recovery, you might miss ways to keep operations running during a crisis. If you only plan for continuity, you may not be ready to restore systems after a failure.
Each plan supports the other. Together, they help your business continue operating and recover faster. That’s especially important when every hour of downtime affects your bottom line.
Creating effective plans doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here are five steps to guide your process:
Start by listing the operations that are essential to your business. These are the functions that must continue, even during a crisis. Knowing what’s critical helps you prioritize.
Look at the threats your business faces—natural disasters, cyberattacks, outages, and more. This helps you understand what could go wrong and how it would affect your operations.
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is how quickly you need to restore systems. Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is how much data you can afford to lose. Set these targets for each system and process.
Create a business continuity plan and a disaster recovery plan. Include step-by-step instructions, contact lists, and roles. Make sure they’re easy to follow in an emergency.
Make sure your staff knows their roles in a crisis. Run drills and tabletop exercises to test your plans. Update them based on what you learn.
Once your plans are written, implementation is key. Start by assigning ownership—someone needs to be responsible for each part of the plan. Make sure your plans are stored in a place that’s easy to access, even if your main systems are down.
Work with your IT team or provider to ensure your systems support your recovery goals. That might include cloud backups, redundant servers, or alternate work locations. Review your plans at least once a year, or whenever your business changes.
To get the most out of your planning efforts, follow these best practices:
Strong planning helps your business stay resilient and ready for the unexpected.
Are you a business with 25 to 150 employees looking to improve your continuity and recovery plans? If you're growing and need to protect your systems, data, and operations, we can help you build a strategy that fits your needs.
At Techlocity, we specialize in helping businesses prepare for the unexpected. Whether you need help creating a business continuity plan, a disaster recovery plan, or both, our team can guide you through every step. Contact us to get started.
A disaster recovery plan focuses on restoring IT systems and data after a disruption. A business continuity plan outlines how to keep business operations running during the disruption. Both are important but serve different roles.
When disaster strikes, having both plans ensures you can continue operating and recover quickly. Each plan addresses different parts of the crisis response.
These strategies give you a clear roadmap during emergencies. Business continuity keeps your operations going, while disaster recovery helps you restore systems.
Together, they support crisis management by reducing confusion, minimizing downtime, and protecting your business impact. They also help you meet stakeholder expectations during an emergency.
Small businesses often have fewer resources, so downtime hits harder. Planning helps you stay open and protect your data.
It also ensures you can restore services quickly and meet customer needs. Without a plan, even a short outage can cause long-term damage.
Emergency management coordinates your response during a crisis. It works alongside your continuity and recovery plans to keep people safe and operations stable.
It includes roles, communication steps, and safety procedures. This helps your team act quickly and effectively when something goes wrong.
Data protection ensures your information stays safe and recoverable. In a DRP, it includes backups and secure storage. In a BCP, it includes access controls and secure workflows.
Both plans should address how to protect sensitive data during and after a disruption. This helps you meet compliance and avoid data loss.
RTO is how fast you need systems back. RPO is how much data you can afford to lose. Both help you set recovery goals.
Understanding these terms helps you design a DR plan that meets your business needs. They guide decisions about backups, storage, and system design.
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