Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery: Government Responsibility

This essay addresses the critical aspects of business continuity and disaster recovery planning, emphasizing the significance of preparedness in the face of unforeseen threats. It highlights the integral role of disaster recovery plans in mitigating disruptive events. The essay delves into the question of government participation in disaster recovery, arguing that the government bears a responsibility for ensuring the safety of both individuals and businesses. This includes providing training, IT support, and essential services, as well as fostering business continuity through various measures. The essay also considers the financial implications and corporate social responsibility aspects of disaster recovery, concluding that a collaborative approach involving both public and private entities is essential for effective risk management and the enhancement of business continuity. The essay uses several references to support the arguments.

Running head: DISASTER RECOVERY 1
Business Continuity Plan and Disaster Recovery Plan
Student Name
Institution

DISASTER RECOVERY 2
Unforeseen and perceived threats to business operations are a continual concern to both
business owners and the government. Business continuity planning and disaster recovery
planning form the most integral parts of organizational risk management. Disaster recoveries
plans are designed to enable organizations to prepare mitigation strategies to the potentially
disruptive business events (Col, 2013). The systems used by companies are becoming more
complicated, and this requires proper preparedness in the case of a disaster. Businesses should
always be prepared for disasters and always ready to recover the damage caused by the disasters
appropriately. The question about whether the government should participate in disaster recovery
at either business or personal level is worth discussing.
The government has a responsibility to take part in disaster recovery at both personal and
business level. First and foremost, it is the government's responsibility to ensure personal and
business safety for all concerned parties within the country. For example, when a business is
stroke by disasters like fire, the responsibility of extinguishing the fire lies in the hands of both
the government and the company like in the case of fire breakout in Australia (Snedaker, 2013).
Further, the government is mandated to reassure businesses and citizens safety while undertaking
their day to day operations as stated in the US consitution. By this doing, the government
encourages business continuity and survival in the market.
Further, the government has the responsibility of training both businesses and individual
people on how to avoid disasters. The government must run an IT department that looks forward
to recovering disasters causes in the industry to enhance business continuity. Disaster avoidance
goes hand in hand with disaster recovery (Col, 2013). The government must conduct training for
business continuity team to understand the right strategies for recovering the damages created by
the disaster.

DISASTER RECOVERY 3
Also, the government has the responsibility of ensuring that people and business
processes remain useful in the event of a disaster such as earthquakes. The government is
mandated to provide essential public reassurance such as power extinguishing (Sahebjamnia,
Torabi, & Mansouri, 2015). Individual-wise, citizens are potentially threatened by terrorists, and
this makes the government responsible for providing adequate security for them to counter their
uncouth actions.
However, the government may turn over disaster recovery plans forcing businesses to
sacrifice their resources to recover the business disasters caused. In this instance, businesses
must sacrifice their finances to recover from the disaster created. Sacrificing funds means that
the company assumes the goal of making profits for the benefit of its stakeholders (Asgary,
Anjum, & Azimi, 2012). When a disaster occurs, this affects the business, employees, customers,
and other interested parties. Recovering the disaster acts like a corporate social responsibility
action, and this enhances business continuity.
In conclusion, it is the responsibility of both the business and government agencies to
prepare and recover disasters using both business and government resources. Business continuity
depends on the success of disaster recovery. The probability of disaster occurrence cannot get
predicted; disasters can occur anytime. Therefore, disaster recovery requires both private and
public involvement since this helps in risk management and hence enhancing business
continuity.

DISASTER RECOVERY 4
References
Asgary, A., Anjum, M. I., & Azimi, N. (2012). Disaster recovery and business continuity after
the 2010 flood in Pakistan: Case of small businesses. International journal of disaster
risk reduction, 2, 46-56. Retrieved from:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420912000143
Col, J. M. (2013). Managing disasters: The role of local government. Public administration
review, 67(s1), 114-124. Retrieved from:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00820.x/full
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. Retrieved from:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221714007942
Snedaker, S. (2013). Business continuity and disaster recovery planning for IT professionals.
Newnes. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.ke/books?
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