Just how important is it that companies have a formal business continuity and disaster recovery plan (BCDR) in place? Considering that millions of dollars and the life of the business are at stake, the answer is: It’s crucial. Despite this fact, less than half of all businesses have any kind of BCDR plan. What does a solid BCDR plan look like? How can you be sure that it will be successful? View this SlideShare for answers to those questions and more.

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Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery:
High-Stakes Solutions for Modern Businesses

2. The annual average cost of lost revenue
and productivity by mid-sized businesses
because of network downtime
BCDR: A High-Stakes Decision
A solid Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCDR) plan is all that stands
between a thriving business and the potential loss of millions of dollars in
missed revenue and lost productivity.
The average cost of
downtime for a Fortune
1,000 company
The average network downtime experienced
by mid-sized businesses annually because of
service provider failures
$ 78,000
32 hours
$ 189,000

3. 60%of businesses close
within two years after
a disaster
A robust BCDR plan is what determines whether a business shuts down—or
remains open—following a disaster.
40% of businesses fail to
reopen after a disaster
40% 60%

4. 91% of SMBs said that
preparing for a disaster is
“very” or “somewhat
important” in a
Department of Homeland
Security survey.
Despite the high stakes, many
businesses do not have BCDR plans.
However, only 38% said
they have a BCDR plan
in place.
91%
38%

5. A separate survey conducted at
America’s Small Business Summit in 2010 found this:
Nearly half of
all small businesses
do not have any
BCDR plan in place.
High stakes. Few plans.

6. “It won’t happen to my business.”
This reflects a misunderstanding of what ‘disaster’ entails.
• Power outage of any kind
• IT systems crash
• File corruption
• Supply chain problems
• Unexpected utility line cuts
• Scheduled network outages & repairs
• Equipment failures
• Application software failures
• Any event that undermines service
availability
But it also is any of these events:
‘Disaster’ is a tsunami, tornado, hurricane, or flood.

7. • New complexities have emerged.
• Regulatory requirements have increased.
• Operational costs are higher.
• Big data has grown—exponentially.
• Cloud solutions have dramatically reshaped what BCDR looks like.
because today’s businesses are so different.
BCDR is different today

8. DR
The Core of Business Continuity…
Plans and tools that enable key business elements that have
become unavailable to be restored as quickly as possible with
as little data loss as possible. This is measured in recovery
time objectives as well as recovery point objectives.
…and Disaster Recovery
BC
Crafting a plan for all aspects of the business so that when
unplanned downtime occurs, the business continues to
operate as close to normally as possible. BC focuses on
maintaining service, consistency, and productivity for
systems, infrastructure, and people.

9. Choosing to implement a robust BCDR plan is the first step.
The next is…
Making the right choices about the most effective
BCDR plan.
What must be
Considered when
crafting & implementing
BCDR plans?

10. Business leaders should collaborate to determine:
• What type of plan is necessary
• The most crucial systems and business units
• Who is responsible for declaring that a disruption has occurred
• A process for locating and communicating with employees
• A process for assisting employees with their needs
• How employees will communicate with one another
• A plan for how employees will continue doing their jobs
At its heart, BCDR is about constant communication.
–CIO magazine
The best BCDR plan evolves out of collaboration
and ensures communication continuity.1

11. BCDR isn’t a one-time event.
The BCDR plan requires reviews & updates, especially in the case of
the following:
• Infrastructure changes
• New application is added
• New server is introduced
• New technologies are used
• Merger or acquisition
• Internal expansion
• New go-to-market strategies
BCDR planning is an on-going process.
2

12. • Ensure that employees can remotely access servers.
• Facilitate employees’ remote access to their desktop environments
through DaaS (Desktop as a Service).
• Leverage the BYOD culture so that employees are “pre-provisioned”
with disaster-ready access devices.
BCDR is a plan for the people, so make sure it’s a plan for your people:
BCDR plans must be person-focused.
3

13. Cloud virtualization makes BCDR much more simple.
It’s not a surprise, then, that the global market for cloud computing is forecasted
to reach $241 billion by 2020.
Cloud virtualization is a practical, cost-effective, and reliable cornerstone
of most organizations’ BCDR plans:
• A business’s systems, applications, and data are run on servers operated
by third-party providers
• Businesses can access computing resources on demand—even in the case
of a disaster
• Cloud architectures offer options like timely restores or hotsite failovers to
remote data centers
Explore how the BCDR plan can best
employ cloud solutions.4

14. The problem?
Internet service providers and competitive local exchange carriers may operate
using leased infrastructure from the same incumbent local exchange carrier
(ILEC). When the ILEC network fails, so do the services of CLECs utilizing the
same network.
The solution?
Choose a provider—such as a cable provider—whose infrastructure is separate
from the telephone company networks at the local last mile, metro, and regional
levels.
This enables genuine network diversity.
Smart BCDR plans will include a provider that
offers—and owns—last-mile connectivity.5

15. 1. Outline objectives of the plan with employees.
2. Review the plan, distribute copies of it, and identify essential employees tasked
with taking immediate action.
3. Schedule testing of the plan—either announced or unannounced.
4. Execute the plan during a false scenario. Ensure that employees go through
each step of the plan as if the scenario were real.
5. Study lessons learned and make changes accordingly.
6. If changes are made, retest.
The effectiveness of a BCDR plan is only known when it’s tested.
Finally, and most importantly, test the BCDR plan.
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16. For more information on
Time Warner Cable Business Class
and BCDR solutions, see
http://goo.gl/sCB8kn.