Backup, DR & Business Continuity

Backup is not a checkbox on a storage array. It is a restore you have performed recently on the systems that would actually hurt if they vanished. We inventory data stores, VMs, SaaS, and the jobs nobody listed, then design backup sets with retention, encryption, and off-site copies that match your recovery objectives. The first delivery is a restore test, not a green dashboard.

Disaster recovery is a separate design. Some systems need a warm standby; some need a documented rebuild from backup; some need only a communications plan. We refuse a single 'DR site' slogan that pretends every application has the same RTO. Failover runbooks include DNS, identity, licenses, and who has authority to declare a disaster during IST business hours and outside them.

Business continuity covers the people path: how staff work if the office, the SaaS IdP, or a region is gone. We keep this practical — alternate identity, laptop rebuild, critical vendor contacts — rather than a novel nobody will read during an incident.

You get measured RTO/RPO per tier, evidence of restores, and a calendar for the next test. DR that is never failed over is fiction; we schedule the test as part of the engagement.