A Disaster Recovery Plan is a recovery process that covers critical data, hardware and software so that a business can begin operations again in the event of a natural or human-caused disaster. This should also include projects to deal with the unexpected or sudden loss of key personnel, although this is not covered in this article, the purpose is data protection.

The Disaster Recovery Plan can be considered as one of the subplans within the IT Contingency Plan.

With the growth of information technology and trust in critical data, the landscape has changed in recent years in favor of protecting irreplaceable data. This is especially evident in information technology; with larger computer systems that hold digital information to limit data loss and aid data recovery.

It is believed that some companies spend up to 25% of their budget on disaster recovery projects, however, this is done to avoid larger losses. Of the companies that had a major loss of automated records, 43% never reopen, 51% close in less than two years, and only 6% will survive the long term.[1]​.

The existing data protection market is characterized by several factors:

As the disaster recovery market continues to undergo significant structural changes, this shift presents opportunities for next-generation companies to specialize in business continuity planning and off-site data protection.

There are different risks that can negatively impact the normal operations of an organization. A risk assessment should be carried out to see what constitutes the disaster and what risks a specific business is susceptible to, including:

To ensure business continuity, it is advisable to start from the following premise: "Always wish for the best and plan for the worst." In a good plan there are different factors that must be taken into account. The most important ones are:

Terminology:.

When critical data loss occurs, without a preventive disaster recovery plan, the only option is to save the data.