Business Continuity Governance

In order to ensure data continuity for an organization, they need to ensure they know how to handle a data or network emergency because all systems have the potential to fail.

Data Continuity Checklist:

• Disaster Recovery Plan/Policy
• Backups
• Redundancy
• Trained Staff

Business Continuity Policies

In order to protect data in case of any emergency a company needs to put in place a Disaster recovery plan and policies that can be executed by IT staff to ensure the continuity of the existing data and/or limit the amount of data that is not contiguous. 

A disaster recovery plan is a comprehensive statement of consistent actions to be taken before, during and after a disaster, according to Geoffrey H. Wold. He also states that the primary objective of disaster recovery planning is to protect the organization in the event that all or parts of its operations and/or computer services are rendered unusable.

Furthermore, companies can mandate through policies that IT must maintain redundant hardware in case of any hardware failures and redundant network connectivity incase the primary internet service provider goes down.  Additionally, they can require that all staff be trained in regards to the Disaster recovery policy to ensure that all parties evolved are knowledgeable to execute the recovery plan.

Business Continuity Procedures

Business continuity procedure vary from organization to origination, however there are standard procedures that most originations should follow.

Standard Business Continuity Procedures

• Backup and Test Backups to ensure that they work
• Hire knowledgeable and trainable staff 
• Offer training on new and existing systems
• Regularly monitor, test, maintain, and upgrade existing system hardware and applications
• Maintain redundancy regarding all data, and critical business functionality