Insights · Comparison
Disaster recovery versus business continuity
Disaster recovery is the technology discipline of restoring systems and data after a disruption: which systems, in what order, from which copies, within what time. Business continuity is the organizational discipline of keeping the business operating during a disruption: which processes must continue, how, with what people, facilities and workarounds, while recovery proceeds. Recovery is owned by technology; continuity is owned by the business. A recovery plan without a continuity plan restores systems to a business that stopped; a continuity plan without a recovery plan keeps the business running on hope.
At a glance
The criteria that decide it.
| Criterion | Disaster recovery | Business continuity |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Systems, data and infrastructure | Processes, people, facilities, suppliers, communication |
| Owner | Technology leadership | Executive and business unit leadership |
| Core content | Recovery order, procedures, copies, objectives | Process priorities, workarounds, roles, communication, decision authority |
| Objectives | Recovery time and recovery point per system | Maximum tolerable disruption per process |
| Testing | Restore and recovery tests | Exercises and walkthroughs with the business |
| Standards | NIST SP 800-34 and similar | ISO 22301 and similar |
Criteria
Each one, explained.
Scope and ownership
Recovery answers how technology comes back. Continuity answers how the business keeps serving customers, paying staff and meeting obligations while it does. Different owners, different plans, one dependency: the continuity plan tells the recovery plan what matters most and how long the business can wait.
Objectives
Recovery time and recovery point objectives are set per system; maximum tolerable disruption is set per process. The second drives the first. Recovery objectives set by technology without the business’s input are the most common planning failure.
Testing
Recovery is tested by restoring. Continuity is tested by exercising: walking the leadership team through a scenario and seeing whether decisions, communication and workarounds hold. Both must be tested, and both produce records regulators and insurers ask for.
Connecting them
A business impact analysis is the bridge: it ranks processes, maps them to systems, and sets the tolerances that recovery must meet. With it, the two plans agree. Without it, they are two documents that have never met.
Recommendation
Who each option suits.
Build both, starting with the business impact analysis that connects them. Let the business set tolerances and priorities; let technology set recovery procedures to meet them; test each in its own way and exercise them together at least annually. Organizations with only one of the two should assume they have neither.
Related
Where this applies.
By David Selakovic · Published 2026-10-16 · Revised 2026-10-16 · Reviewed every 180 days