Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery Plan 1

Disaster Recovery Plan 14

Disaster Recovery Plan

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Introduction

In any organization, disasters are unavoidable as they are inevitable at whatever circumstance. Disaster of are of various kind and size as some when occur in an organization they cause a big damage. In classifying disasters, there are natural disasters and manmade disasters. Disaster recovery plan plays a very critical role in any organization as it restores organization back in its operational situation (Smith, Martin & Wenger, 2018). When a disaster occurs in an organization, all the activities in the organization are disrupted and in turn the income of the firm is brought into misfortune. In most of the time fiascos are unavoidable and in order to limit the misfortunes that occurs in a firm, it is important to come up with a disaster recovery plan which in turn will solve the scenario on occurrence.

Each and every single organization which is under operation has to have an effective disaster recovery system which in one way or the other will help solve situation of disaster in case it happens in an organization. In disaster recovery, there are certain issues which has to be put in place in order to ensure that it is effective. Disaster recovery plan involves plans and development of set procedures which are aimed to restore organization operations back to normal (Phillips, 2015). The mitigation measures which are in turn formulated by the disaster recovery plan will help the organization much in ensuring that the situation is restored to normal.

This essay will involve designing a disaster recovery plan for Apple Corporation Inc. which is an international organization involved in manufacturing of electronic devices like computer and smartphones. This is one of the company which is in turn believed to be producing quality products hence trusted by majority of the people across the world. Additionally, it is a company which has played a critical role on the global market due to the products they sell across the world.

Overview of the company

Apple Corporation is a company which has built its name as it’s the leader of high-tech computers that in turn tries to meet the needs of the customers. The company operation is guided by the various set goals which in turn helps the company to be such a successful. The first issues done by the Corporation is the market research which is done by the company through understanding the need of the customers which enables the company understand different taste of the customers hence producing different types of products which are much acceptable by the consumers. For instance, the company has involved in producing smartphones which has different capability features varying in colors which in turns attracts the eyes of the customers. the second issue which the company has set is producing products which are unique and relatively inexpensive. This has made it easy for the customers to access their products in an easy manner. The last issue is that the Apple company has enhanced its corporate responsibility by sponsoring activities which are carried out in the society. In the year 2014, the company asset was estimated to be $ 500 billion (Jie & Hasan, 2017).

Apple company has opened different franchises in various countries which will in turn enable it continue its marketing and production in such region. These regions include Canada, China, Australia, India, Britain, South Africa, Germany and its headquarters in Cupertino California. All the operations when researched in the franchise regions, they are transferred to the headquarters where they are actualized in the quality which is needed by the customers. The headquarters in Cupertino controls the operations where all the franchise are managed and controlled. Every Franchise has its own function in the company. For instance, China servers as a production center for the company. In case of any disaster occurrence in the organization, the operations of the company are put into halt (Jie & Hasan, 2017). If like for example a disaster occurs in Franchise in China, it will be very dangerous for the company as production sector will be affected much.

Disaster scenarios

The organization is prone to disaster which may affect its production directly or indirectly. First and foremost, cybersecurity issue has been the current threat issues which has affected most of the organizations across the world. In case where hackers attempt to access the company’s information, the data which consist of financial information of the company, financial assets of the company or else personal information regarding to its customers will be lost which is a big threat to the company. This scenario may lead to a company losing its competitive advantage over its competitors like in our case Samsung company. Moreover, natural disasters like tornadoes, tsunamis and earthquakes are much dangerous when they occur in an organization. For instance, when tsunami occurred in China, the company’s operations were affected much as the production activities reduced by 20% and reduced the sales by 23% (Jie & Hasan, 2017).

The impacts which arises due to disaster determines what strategies should be put in place when dealing with the disaster. Through the use of technical team in the Apple company, the cybersecurity issues were solved as the team helped much in monitoring the flow of information of the company. The company has ensured that the natural disasters which are always prone to places like China are solved through transferring operations in a safer region which is safer (O'Grady, J2009). The other issue is that the current climate change has brought about severe weather changes which has affected organization operation in one way or the other. In order for Apple company to ensure that its disaster recovery plan is effective, the management should incorporate some strategies which are aimed at restoring their operation back to normal. Due to the big financial muscles of the cover, the best effective strategy of ensuring that they have protected their property should be installed in their operation (Jie & Hasan, 2017).

Importance of Disaster Recovery Plan

Every single organization has its own operational strategies which are put in place in ensuring that the company property is protected and in that continuity of their logistics is resumed as quick as possible immediately after occurrence of the risk. Continuity of business is very essential in an organization as it plays a key role in maintenance of the company production. Development of an effective recovery system should be designed in a such a manner that in case of disaster occurrence a quick response to the disaster is available in order to reduce the risk of property damage in the company.

The main and core reason for development of the disaster recovery plan is to have a strategy for mitigating risk occurrence in a company. This is mainly because activities which occurs in a company are so much which always aims to improve the quality of the products in a company. This study essay will involve identification of the main objectives of the disaster recovery plan, check on the likelihood cause of the disaster, highlight some of the suggestions which can help in mitigating the disaster after its occurrence in a company and also the procedures required when a company is designing an effective disaster recovery plan in an organization (DuHadway, Carnovale & Hazen, 2017).

Disaster recovery and business continuity in an organization plays a critical role in risk management of an organization. The organization has to involve in doing the best assessment in checking likelihood of disasters in their operation and know how to come up with mitigation measures which in turn will solve the situation when a disaster occurs in a company (DuHadway, Carnovale & Hazen, 2017). The continuity of the company operation depends much on effectiveness of the company’s recovery plan.

Apple company declaration pertaining disaster recovery

Before any risk occurring in a company to be declared a disaster, the company management has to sit done and address issue which should be considered disaster in their operation. Through the department of risk management, an assessment has to be carried out which in turn will ensure that an effective strategy is put in place in each and every single department of an organization to mitigate the occurrence of the risk. If the risk occurrence in the company is natural, there should be a quick response which has to mitigate the issue in the company (O'Grady, J2009). For instance, Apple company disaster declaration is involved in assessing the overall result regarding the production and the sales of the company. This is done when the management involves in an assessment on whether the disaster affects the production level or the sales in a margin of about 15% to 30%. In that case, the company can declare a disaster occurrence in their operation where a mitigation measures has to be developed to solve the problem. Through the use of their computer program which in turn monitors the results of their sales and production in a certain financial period, the results will be given on the screen on the trend of the company. If by any chance the sales fall by between 15% and 30% the computer will automatically give a warning to the company.

In other scenario, when a natural disaster occurs in a certain region where their franchise company is located, immediate measures are taken on how to mitigate the issue. This being very catastrophic to the company, disaster management team should be aware on measures which need to be taken at whatever circumstance.

Features of Disaster Recovery Plan

Many of the organization across the world has lost their important data information due to advancement of technology which has raised a lot of internet unethical issue like the case of hacking. IT infrastructure of the company should be designed in a such a manner that there is no one who can easily access the information of the company without any permission. Security of the company should be maintained in a such a manner that the information of the company is guaranteed security in any circumstance. The following are some of the features of an effective disaster recovery plan:

A disaster recovery system in any company should be flexible in a manner that it can easily be assessed at any time. This is because a disaster occurrence is not easily predictable on when it will occur in a company as it can come at any time. Therefore, every set plan should be alert to easily mitigate the disaster in case of occurrence.

Secondly, the other issue is that a disaster recovery plan in an organization should have a minimal performance impact. The impacts which are involved in the solving the occurrence of situation in an organization should be minimal in a such a manner that no impact it can bring to the company property.

The other issue is the presence of strong security especially if it is an IT form dealing with information data in their daily operation. Hackers are always alert to take an open opportunity of attempting to steal company information at whatever circumstances. Strong security of the company information involves the use of perimeter firewall, use of antivirus in order to ensure no loose of the data information and other security measures which has to be incorporated (Baham, Hirschheim, Calderon & Kisekka, 2017).

Steps which the company has to incorporate in their Disaster recovery plan to be effective

In order for Apple company to ensure that their competitive advantage is maintained they should incorporate an effective disaster recovery plan which will in turn help in mitigating the risk occurrence in the company (Baham, Hirschheim, Calderon & Kisekka, 2017). There are ten steps which Apple company has to follow when designing an effective catastrophe recuperating plan for their operation:

a). Management commitment in Recovery system.

It is the responsibility of the company management to set up a disaster recovery team which has to act when a disaster has occurred in an organization. The disaster recovery team in an organization should come up with best plans which will in turn help on dealing with disaster which occurs in an organization. The committee which involves a disaster teams should have a leader who in turn will come up with best coordination method in an organization. Also, the assignment of various tasks in an organization when dealing with the disaster should be done by the manager of the risk management department (Sahebjamnia, Torabi & Mansouri, 2015). The set procedures and rules pertaining recovery system should be followed in a manner that the best for the company is achieved.

b) Planning Establishment

After coming up with committee of members who will deal with disaster in an organization, it is important of the appointed individual to plan on the way forward by highlighting incidences which may lead to disaster occurrence and also making suggestion opinions by every member on how to solve the scenario.

c) Risk Assessment

Immediately after highlighting incidences that may lead to distaste in an organization, it is important for the disaster team to carry out a risk assessment evaluation about the risk. This involves identifying the nature of the risk or the disaster that is prone to happen in a company, doing the analysis of the effects which may be caused by the disaster when it occurs in the company and also evaluating the loss that can be brought about by the occurrence of the company (Wold & Geoffrey, 2013).

d) Establishment of the operation processes

Every single department in the company should be installed with the right equipment which will be used when dealing with a disaster which has occurred in the company. This is very essential in that the individuals who in turn will be tackling with the incidence in the company will find it easy for them to solve the issue without any problem (Phillips, 2015). In case of fire occurrence in a company like Apple, fire extinguishers should be positioned at a strategic place in a such a way that in case of a fire they can easily be accessed.

e) Recovery strategies determination

The strategies which should be put in place in solving the issue in the company should be more efficient in dealing with the risk in the company. For instance, if it’s the case of Apple Inc. storage of data in the company should incorporate strong security of the company’s information which is so much important in any recovery system. The company should also consider coming up with strategies of changing the Franchises tasks.

f) Performance Recording of Information

Various activities in the company which are done by the disaster recovery team should be recorded accurately. The company should sensitize to all the employees of the company on any important information which need to be secured from any single attack. All these situations should be recorded by the recovery team so that they can help them on how best to solve them when a disaster occurs upon them.

g) Written Organization Plan

When a committee plans and develops a strategy of dealing an issue in an organization, it is written down in a standard format where it is posted in easy and every single department of the organization so that all the employees should be aware of the best measures which they can take in order to ensure that they have mitigated a risk (Phillips, 2015). This may be in form of rules and procedures which should be followed.

h) Developing of criteria for testing procedures

Before launching any disaster recovery plan in an organization, it is important to test the developed plan in order to identify on areas which need modification or else improvement. This also helps much the company come up with the best backing up system in case of important power source being used in the company.

I). Testing the developed plan

After developing an effective measures and plans which should be put in place in an organization, the committee of the individuals takes a responsibility of testing the plan. In most of the cases, the plan should not be the best as there is always room for improvement and modification on the methodologies which were devised in the system. This is mainly because technology keeps on changing day in day out. The plan testing depends on the size of the company as if a company is small frequent testing can easily be done to the developed disaster recovery system (Phillips, 2015). If it is a large company, plan test of the recovery system can be done once in a year in order to check on areas which requires improvement.

There are various types of testing and they include: checklist, simulation and also full interruption testing. In simulation, a testing is carried out as if it is a real life situation of the company. in full interruption testing the operation of the company are put into halt in order to check the functioning of the backup system of the company.

j) Approval of the plan

Immediately after the plan has been test and the committee members of the company acknowledge it, they then approve it. The top management therefore takes a responsibility of implementing policies which need to be followed in the company while dealing with a disaster.

Other Essential issues in the DRP

Disaster notification

When a disaster occurs in an organization, the employees of the company are first and foremost alerted by use of alarms or siren in the company.

Communication plan and role assignment

Communication in an organization plays a very critical role in an organization as every employee should know of what he or she is supposed to do in case of any disaster occurrence in the company (Sahebjamnia, Torabi & Mansouri, 2015). The organization should also keep the contact information of the disaster specialists in a right manner in order for easy access in case of any disaster.

Disaster recovery strategies

Recovery strategies in a company helps in mitigating disaster occurrence. In case of natural disaster in a company like Apple company, the management can easily transfer the operation of the franchise to the nearest branch host country by transferring the employees in order to ensure that the normalcy of production is restored back (Baham, Hirschheim, Calderon & Kisekka, 2017). For the case of cybersecurity issue the company should come up with the best recovery system which is incorporated by new security systems.

Conclusion

Recovery system in any organization has helped much in protecting the property of organization in one way or the other. Through the use of planned mitigation measures in the disaster recovery plan in the company, a lot of property has been rescued in one way or the other. Therefore, companies should rise and adopt an effective recovery system measures of solving issues which may disrupt their operations.

References

Baham, C., Hirschheim, R., Calderon, A. A., & Kisekka, V. (2017). An Agile Methodology for the Disaster Recovery of Information Systems Under Catastrophic Scenarios.

Berke, P., Cooper, J., Aminto, M., Grabich, S., & Horney, J. (2014). Adaptive planning for disaster recovery and resiliency: An evaluation of 87 local recovery plans in eight states. Journal of the American Planning Association, 80(4), 310-323.

DuHadway, S., Carnovale, S., & Hazen, B. (2017). Understanding risk management for intentional supply chain disruptions: Risk detection, risk mitigation, and risk recovery. Annals of Operations Research, 1-20.

Jie, C. T., & Hasan, N. A. M. (2017). APPLE VERSUS SAMSUNG PATENT LAWSUIT: AN ISSUE AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT APPROACH. International Journal, 2(5), 1-12.

Mohamed, H. A. R. (2014). A proposed model for IT disaster recovery plan. International Journal of Modern Education and Computer Science, 6(4), 57.

Mohd, R., Abu Bakar, N., Hassan, S., & Hussain, A. H. (2017). Sustainable Post-Disaster Recovery Plan for Flood Victims in Gua Musang and Kuala Krai, Kelantan. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities.

O'Grady, J. D. (2009). Apple Inc. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

Phillips, B. D. (2015). Disaster recovery. CRC press.

Sahebjamnia, N., Torabi, S. A., & Mansouri, S. A. (2015). Integrated business continuity and disaster recovery planning: Towards organizational resilience. European Journal of Operational Research, 242(1), 261-273.

Smith, G., Martin, A., & Wenger, D. E. (2018). Disaster Recovery in an Era of Climate Change: The Unrealized Promise of Institutional Resilience. In Handbook of Disaster Research (pp. 595-619). Springer, Cham.

Song, Y., Li, C., Olshansky, R., Zhang, Y., & Xiao, Y. (2017). Are we planning for sustainable disaster recovery? Evaluating recovery plans after the Wenchuan earthquake. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.

The McGraw-Hill Companies. (2016). Network Disaster Recovery. Retrieved August 31, 2014, from The McGraw-Hill Companies, Week Seven, IT 230.

Wold, Geoffrey H. (2013). "Disaster Recovery Planning Process Part 1 of 3." Oxford Press. London.