What is the difference between a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) and a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?

What is the difference between a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) and a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)?

• A. DRP focuses on IT and technical recovery.
• B. DRP focuses on business processes.
• C. BCP is only about facilities.
• D. They are identical.

Answer: (A)

Disaster recovery plans focus specifically on IT and technical restoration after a disruption. They spell out how to recover data, restore applications, bring networks and systems back online, and switch to backup infrastructure or a secondary site. A business continuity plan, by contrast, is broader: it aims to keep the business operating by addressing people, processes, facilities, suppliers, and communications in addition to IT. In practice, the DRP is a component of the BCP, providing the technical steps that enable the wider business continuity effort. So, describing a DRP as focusing on IT and technical recovery best captures its purpose. The other statements are narrower or inaccurate: BCP isn’t only about facilities, they aren’t identical, and DRP is not the entire scope of business continuity.

Disaster recovery plans focus specifically on IT and technical restoration after a disruption. They spell out how to recover data, restore applications, bring networks and systems back online, and switch to backup infrastructure or a secondary site. A business continuity plan, by contrast, is broader: it aims to keep the business operating by addressing people, processes, facilities, suppliers, and communications in addition to IT. In practice, the DRP is a component of the BCP, providing the technical steps that enable the wider business continuity effort. So, describing a DRP as focusing on IT and technical recovery best captures its purpose. The other statements are narrower or inaccurate: BCP isn’t only about facilities, they aren’t identical, and DRP is not the entire scope of business continuity.