Disaster Recovery Management and Training

Management is integral to successful handling of the disaster recovery process from development and maintenance of the recovery plan through to supervision of staff and DR applications when an emergency occurs. A solid grasp of DR concepts, internal company structures, external inputs plus capable personnel supervision are prerequisite for any recovery team supervisor.

With a two-fold upsurge in the complexity of technology business uses, plus the increasing likelihood that external factors will interrupt critical business systems, the need for effective disaster mitigation is also increasing. The solutions afforded business via improvements in DR applications need to be reinforced with effective skills in the recovery team who will be responsible for both the development and the implementation of the recovery plan.

The Recovery Team

The supervisor will assemble the recovery team from the various areas and departments within the company taking into the mission critical areas and business systems. Bringing in the unique experience of departmental heads for example will ensure pertinence and see the plan develop appropriately.

Once the plan has been developed using impact and risk analysis studies and decisions have been made with regard to internal and external solutions, and within budgetary constraints, team members will remain involved in continued refining of the plan as company structures and requirements change.

Training Courses Team members may also benefit from taking one of the many DR training courses available. These courses cover all aspects of the disaster recovery process including risk analysis and business impact, planning and plan maintenance, data and telecoms recovery, staff administration and media liaison. Courses vary from documentation available online to seminars at educational facilities. The range extends from half day seminars through to full examination based courses.

Becoming familiar with DR structures and gaining an insight into current DR applications will prove useful in developmental and practical situations.

Staff DR Training

Team responsibility will include familiarizing staff with the procedures determined in the recovery plan. Staff will need to cope with the constraints imposed by the emergency, plus accommodate the changes enforced by the DR plan. Primary will be initial concerns for the safety of fellow workers if the emergency involves any danger, followed by maintaining business continuity and ensuring customers concerns are identified and mitigated.

In-house memoranda and training sessions should occur at regular intervals to ensure staff know what to do when a crisis has affected business continuity. Various scenarios should be presented such as data or systems failure, telecoms and phone downtime, fire or other natural disaster and the pertinant areas of the recovery plan presented in a manner likely to make sense to all of the workforce and to be memorable.

Communications Outage

Downtime in business phone systems is an area needing specialist attention such as that supplied by 999Alert. The failure may have occurred internally or may be due to external causes such as sabotage or network fault but the effect on business will be immediate and staff need to be well versed in how their individual work conditions will be affected.

Where call rerouting occurs staff will need to be aware of where calls will arrive and be able to reassure customers that business services will be maintained as fully as possible. Depending on the alternative arrangements during telecom downtime staff may need to take calls on alternate landlines, mobiles or VoIP phones. PhonePresence supply DR applications which reroute calls to staff on-site and in the field within minutes of an emergency.

Business Continuity Training

A workforce that includes a specialist DR team and staff familiar with company DR planning will facilitate the recovery process and ensure disruption to business services and customer support is minimized. Having a good recovery plan is essential but staff involvement will be instrumental in effective implementation.