When IT systems fail, how fast you recover and how much data you lose can directly impact your business. That’s where a disaster recovery plan comes in.
For many small and medium size businesses, disaster recovery planning sounds more complex than it needs to be. This guide explains what a disaster recovery plan is and importantly, how it differs from business continuity.
What Is a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)?
The Simple Definition
A disaster recovery plan documents how your business restores critical IT systems and data after a serious disruption. Its purpose is not to prevent incidents, but to reduce downtime, limit data loss and support a controlled recovery.
In practical terms, a business disaster recovery plan answers questions like:
- What systems need to be restored first?
- Who is responsible for recovery actions?
- How long will systems be unavailable?
- How much data could be lost in a worst-case scenario?
What Types of Events a DRP Covers
Disaster recovery traditionally focuses on major, often location-based incidents, including:
- Cyber incidents such as ransomware
- Loss of a data centre or cloud service
- Hardware failure affecting multiple systems
- Natural or man-made disasters impacting a site
For cloud-first businesses, the focus is less about buildings and more about system recovery and platform resilience.
Disaster Recovery vs Business Continuity: The Key Difference
These terms are often used together, but they are not the same.
Business Continuity Keeps Work Going
Business continuity planning looks at how the business continues operating if systems, people or locations are unavailable. It considers a wide range of scenarios, not just disasters.
This makes business continuity broader – and often more important – for most organisations.
Disaster Recovery Restores Systems After an Incident
Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity. It focuses specifically on the steps required to restore IT systems and data after a major disruption.
In short:
– Business continuity = how work continues
– Disaster recovery = how systems are restored
The Two Metrics That Matter Most: RTO and RPO
RTO: How Long You Can Be Down
Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the maximum amount of time a system can be unavailable before it significantly impacts the business. For example, if email is down for four hours, is that acceptable? Or what about a full day? RTO helps prioritise which systems need to be restored first and sets realistic expectations during an incident.
RPO: How Much Data You Can Lose
Recovery Point Objective (RPO) describes how much data loss your business can tolerate after an incident. For example, if your RPO is four hours, anything created or changed in the last four hours could be lost. RPO helps you understand the trade-off between recovery speed, data protection and risk.
Why Disaster Recovery Targets Often Differ From Daily Backups
Many businesses assume their disaster recovery timeframes match their day-to-day backups. In practice, they often don’t.
Day-to-day backups protect against common issues, such as accidentally deleting a file. These backups usually run frequently and let you restore data quickly.
Disaster recovery addresses more serious incidents that require you to restore systems from offsite or replicated backups. These backups often update less frequently, which can extend recovery time and increase potential data loss.
For example, a system may back up files every few hours for everyday recovery, but only replicate data offsite once per day or week for disaster recovery.
The key is not aiming for perfect recovery targets. Instead, focus on understanding your real downtime and data loss, and decide whether that level of risk works for your business.
What to Include in a Practical Disaster Recovery Plan
As your business grows, you may need more advanced support and strategic guidance from your MSP.
Identify Your Critical Systems and Dependencies
Start by identifying systems that matter most, such as:
- Microsoft 365 and identity services
- File storage and line-of-business applications
- Networking and internet connection
Dependencies matter. If identity is down, many other systems follow.
Document Recovery Steps, Access and Responsibilities
A practical plan documents:
- Recovery steps at a high level
- Who has access to systems and backups
- Who makes decisions during an incident
This avoids confusion when time is critical.
Communication Plan for Staff and Key Contacts
Recovery isn’t just technical. Your plan should outline:
- How staff are updated
- Who communicates with vendors or clients
- When external support is engaged
Testing and Review Schedule
An untested plan is just an assumption. Regular testing and reviews confirm that recovery steps work as expected. They also ensure the plan still reflects how your business operates as systems, staff and platforms change.
Disaster Recovery Planning for Cloud-First Businesses
Why “We’re on Microsoft 365” Doesn’t Automatically Mean You’re Covered
Cloud platforms offer resilience, but they do not remove responsibility. Data protection, configuration and recovery still sit with the business.
Many businesses assume cloud platforms automatically provide disaster recovery, which creates risk, especially during cyber incidents.
A Practical Focus: Recoverability, Resilience and Realistic Timeframes
Disaster recovery planning looks different depending on how a business runs its IT.
Large organisations with on-premises infrastructure and internal IT teams often need detailed, location-based disaster recovery plans. These can be complex and highly technical, covering data centres, hardware failures and site-level outages.
For most small and medium businesses using cloud platforms like Microsoft 365, disaster recovery focuses less on physical locations. Instead, it focuses on how to restore systems.
In these environments, effective disaster recovery planning focuses on:
- Understanding how each critical system can be restored if it becomes unavailable
- Accepting realistic Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO)
- Aligning recovery expectations with the real business impact of downtime or data loss
This approach avoids unnecessary complexity while ensuring the business clearly understands its risks.
For many SMBs, a simple, well-understood plan is more valuable than a detailed one that goes unused.
Common Mistakes Businesses Make With Disaster Recovery
Assuming Backups = Disaster Recovery
Backups matter, but they do not equal disaster recovery. They store data but do not define recovery timeframes, priorities or ownership during an incident.
Not Knowing Your Real RTO/RPO Until It’s Too Late
Learning how long recovery takes during an incident is far from ideal. Understanding this upfront allows informed risk decisions.
When to Get Help
If Downtime Would Hurt, it’s Worth Documenting and Testing Your Plan
If system outages would disrupt revenue, service delivery or reputation, disaster recovery planning is worth doing properly.
Lanter works with businesses to align disaster recovery, cloud platforms and cyber security with real-world operational needs. Our approach is practical, business-focused and grounded in how modern environments actually work.
Talk to Lanter about practical disaster recovery planning – from cloud environments to cyber resilience and managed IT support.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a disaster recovery plan?
A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a documented process for restoring critical IT systems and data after a major disruption, such as a cyber incident, outage, or infrastructure failure.
What is the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity?
Business continuity focuses on how the business keeps operating during disruption, while disaster recovery focuses specifically on restoring IT systems and data after an incident.
What does RTO mean in disaster recovery?
RTO (Recovery Time Objective) is the maximum amount of time a system can be offline before it causes unacceptable business impact.
What does RPO mean in disaster recovery?
RPO (Recovery Point Objective) is the maximum amount of data your business can afford to lose, measured in time (for example, the last 2 hours of work).
Are backups enough for disaster recovery?
Not always. Backups protect data, but disaster recovery also includes recovery priorities, responsibilities, communication steps, and realistic timeframes for restoring systems.
What should a disaster recovery plan include?
A practical DRP should include critical system priorities, recovery steps, access details, assigned responsibilities, communication plans, and a schedule for regular testing and review.