What is the primary objective of business continuity and disaster recovery plans?

The primary objective of business continuity and disaster recovery plans focuses on ensuring that an organization can continue its critical operations and functions in the face of disruptions, whether they are caused by natural disasters, cyber incidents, or other crises. While protecting human life is indeed an essential consideration in emergency planning and response, the overarching goal is to maintain operational capabilities and minimize downtime.

Business continuity plans are designed to sustain essential business functions during and after a disaster, supporting an organization’s resilience. This encompasses strategies and procedures to facilitate quick recovery and minimize interruptions to operations. Similarly, disaster recovery plans specifically focus on restoring IT systems and data after an incident.

Safeguarding critical information systems is important, but it falls within the larger context of operational continuity. Minimizing losses is also a critical factor, but this is ultimately a means to support the continuity of operations. Thus, the most aligned objective is to provide for continuity of operations, which encapsulates the overall intent of these plans.