When a serious failure disrupts operations, the most important question is simple: how long can your company stay offline?
The impact of an incident isn't measured solely in downtime hours, but also in reputation, suspended contracts, and loss of trust. It's at this point that a disaster recovery plan shows its value or reveals that it has never truly been tested.
Most companies have some kind of recovery document, but few validate whether it works when the environment is under pressure. Disaster recovery isn't a file on the server; it's a process that requires method, testing, and documentation.
What is disaster recovery and what is its role in continuity?
Disaster recovery, also called a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP), is the set of technical and operational actions that guide how to restore systems and data after a serious failure, whether due to a cyberattack, human error, misconfiguration, or physical disaster.
Often, DRP is confused with backup or business continuity planning. Although related, the concepts have distinct roles.
Backup ensures that data is copied.
Business continuity planning defines how operations continue to function during a crisis.
DRP, in turn, executes the technical return of infrastructure and services.
An effective plan defines RTO (Recovery Time Objective) — the maximum tolerable time for restoration — and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) — the point in time when data can be recovered without unacceptable damage. These parameters should be defined based on the criticality of each system and reviewed periodically.
International standards such as ISO 22301 (Business Continuity) and ISO 27031 (Information Technology — Recovery Principles) establish guidelines for structuring and validating these plans. From them, it is possible to build a replicable and auditable model.
Why do so many recovery plans fail at the crucial moment?
A large portion of recovery plans fail for a simple reason: they have never been tested under real-world conditions. The document exists, but the team doesn't know who to contact, the contacts are outdated, or the systems have changed since the last review.
Among the most recurring causes are:
- Lack of regular testing and scheduled reviews.
- Environment updates that were not reflected in the plan.
- Reliance on vendors without defined service level agreements (SLAs).
- Backups stored in the same location as the original data.
- Absence of documentation on the correct restoration order.
These failures turn the plan into mere theory. It may seem complete, but it doesn't guarantee a quick response when a failure occurs. A DRP (Disaster Risk Prevention Program) is only valuable when it is validated methodically and frequently.
How to verify if the recovery plan actually works
Validating a recovery plan means proving that it works under the most adverse conditions. This validation requires planning, simulation, and documentation.
Full restoration simulation
The first step is to test the recovery of critical systems in a controlled environment. This simulation measures how long it takes for the company to resume operations and whether the restored data is intact. It also reveals hidden dependencies, such as accesses, permissions, or integrations that were not included in the plan.
These tests should be performed periodically and whenever there are significant changes to the infrastructure. Each simulation needs to be recorded, including execution time, failures found, and corrective actions applied.
Technical review and environment update
Disaster recovery is a dynamic process. Whenever a company adds new applications, changes cloud providers, or alters its network architecture, the plan needs to be updated.
This review ensures that the restore flows and backup points remain valid.
Reviewing also means verifying that the RTOs and RPOs still reflect the current needs of the business. A system that was critical two years ago may not have the same priority today.
Communication tests and response roles
A well-written plan is useless if the people involved don't know what to do. Validating communication is an essential part of preparation.
Teams need to know the chain of action, who is responsible for each decision, and the official communication channels.
Simple simulations—such as failure alerts, on-call activation, and emergency meetings—help measure response time and the clarity of roles.
Auditing and documenting evidence.
Each test, review, or simulation needs to generate records. This documentation proves the plan's effectiveness and serves as a basis for internal audits, certifications, or contractual requirements.
The evidence also creates a history, allowing the company to track the evolution of its operational maturity.
Maintaining a validation history is what differentiates companies that claim to have a recovery plan from those that can prove it works.
The role of reactive services and specialized support.
Even with a solid plan, executing a recovery can require specific technical knowledge and advanced tools. Reactive services and specialized support are fundamental to ensuring that the restoration happens safely and within the necessary timeframe.
At STWBrasil, the validation process involves Reactive Services, Cloud Backup, and technical consulting to test and correct flaws that compromise the recovery. Each test is conducted by specialists who analyze the integrity of the backups, the adherence of the configurations, and the recovery capacity of the environment.
Specialized technical support also plays a role in post-incident analysis, investigating causes, correcting vulnerabilities, and adjusting the plan to prevent recurrence of the failure. This approach ensures that the document evolves based on evidence and not just hypotheses.
When the plan is more than just a document.
Disaster recovery only fulfills its purpose when treated as an ongoing process. Having a plan ready is the beginning, not the end. The true indicator of maturity lies in periodic validation and the ability to demonstrate, with records, that operations can be restored under any circumstances.
Companies that test their plans gain predictability. They know how long it takes to restore systems, how much they lose per hour of downtime, and which actions to prioritize. Those that have never validated depend on luck and improvisation—two variables that are not part of a technical strategy.
We assess and test whether your company could resume operations and show you how to correct what is preventing it.
