Ten Ways Your Disaster Recovery Plans Can Hurt You

Just having a disaster recovery plan doesn’t always guarantee smooth sailing during a disaster. In the ideal world, a company can withstand any disaster with a good DR plan – but what happens in reality?

In an article on the Tech Target.com website, James Damoulakis says the gap between DR best practices and real-life practices can be “alarmingly huge.” Instead, he says, it’s time for companies to engage in a reality check and look at the top ten reasons why a DR plan could fail.

Damoulakis’ top 10 reasons are:

1. Not linking business and IT

2. Not having a DR plan in place

3. Not keeping a DR plan current and up-to-date

4. Not testing a DR plan

5. Unrealistic recovery goals

6. Undefined roles, responsibilities and ownership for DR

7. A DR plan that fails to address the right risks

8. Backups that don’t work

9. Not enough staff available to recover data

10. Thinking DR is too expensive