Comparison
Business continuity vs disaster recovery
Business continuity (BC) and disaster recovery (DR) are often said together — 'BCDR' — but they're not the same thing. Here's how they differ and why you need both.
The short answer
Disaster recovery restores IT systems and data. Business continuity keeps the whole organisation running — people, processes, facilities and suppliers included. DR is a subset of BC.
What each covers
- Business continuity: critical processes, people and roles, facilities and work-area recovery, suppliers, communications, and the systems behind them.
- Disaster recovery: servers, networks, applications, databases and backups — the technical restoration detail.
Why you need both
Restoring a server (DR) is pointless if your people have nowhere to work and no plan for how to operate (BC). Conversely, a continuity plan with no technical recovery detail can't actually bring systems back. The two interlock: DR plans live inside the BC program, and both inherit recovery objectives from the same BIA.
Frequently asked questions
- Is disaster recovery part of business continuity?
- Yes. Disaster recovery is the IT-focused subset of business continuity. DR restores systems and data; business continuity covers the whole organisation, with DR plans nested inside it.
- What is BCDR?
- BCDR stands for Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery — the combined discipline of keeping operations running and restoring IT systems after a disruption.
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