What exactly is business continuity? Is it data backup? Is it disaster recovery? Defining business continuity can vary from company to company. To narrow it down, we asked managed service providers to give us their best definitions. What's yours?

1. WHAT IS
BUSINESS CONTINUITY

2. TRYING TO DEFINE BUSINESS
CONTINUITY ISN’T ALWAYS EASY.
Everyone seems to have a unique definition
these days. Depending on how your business
operates, you may think about it a lot differently
than the guy next to you.

3. SO WHAT’S A GENERAL DEFINITION? IS THERE ONE?
DO MORE THAN ONE APPLY TO YOU?
Let’s start by defining what business continuity is NOT.

4. BUSINESS CONTINUITY ≠ DATA BACKUP
A data backup is the result of copying or archiving files and folders for the
purpose of being able to restore them in case of data loss. Data loss can be
caused by many things ranging from computer viruses to hardware failures to
file corruption to fire, flood, or theft (etc). Mar 10, 2015

5. BUSINESS CONTINUITY ≠ DISASTER RECOVERY
Disaster recovery is the area of security planning that deals with protecting
an organization from the effects of significant negative events.

6. You may be scratching your head at
this point, saying, “BUT THOSE
THINGS MAKE UP MY
BUSINESS CONTINUITY
PLAN?!”
You are 100% correct, data backup and disaster
recovery most certainly contribute to your
business continuity plan. But the two should
never stand alone!

7. NOT SURE WHAT KIND OF DATA
BACKUP IS THE YING TO YOUR
DISASTER RECOVERY YANG?
To help alleviate the head scratching, we’ve
asked managed service providers to give us
their best definition of business continuity!

8. MATTHEW HAHN
Vice President of Network Services
SWK Technologies, Inc.
Business continuity is, quite simply, theabilityto
keepone’sIToperationsupandrunning while
experiencing minimal impacts during events that would
normally disrupt operations in their entirety.

9. ZACHARY RAMSEY
Technical Sales Engineer
Solutions, Inc.
Business continuity is the ability to keep your business
up and running in times of user error, hardware error, and
natural disasters. In times like these, businesseswant
tomakesuretheycankeeprunningwithminimal
impactonday-to-dayoperations.

10. MICHAEL PATRICK
Solutions Architect
Mirazon
Business continuity is the ability to continueaccessing
companydataevenwhentheprimarybusiness
serversareofflineortotallydestroyed.

11. SERGIO ESPINOSA
Support Engineer
Flexible Systems
Business continuity is about building resiliency into a
business’s core functions. It’s about identifying and
mitigating risk. It’s about makingtheoperations
thatarebusiness-criticalbulletproof.

12. STEVE WEEKS
President
Netcetera Consulting, Inc.
Business continuity is the capability for an organization to
continue to deliver products and services at an acceptable
and predefined level following a disruptive incident. Itis
commonsense,peaceofmindandtheabilitytokeep
calmand‘Dattoon’inthefaceofmajoradversity.
KEEP
CALM
AND
DATTO
ON

13. CHAD KEMPT
Owner
Fast Computers
Business continuity is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the
ability to continueoperatingyourbusinessinthe
midstofatechnicaldisaster; Datto’s technology
makes this possible for businesses of any size.

14. MICHAEL BATTAGLIA
Backup and Disaster Recovery Engineer
Flexible Systems
Businesscontinuityis about protectingyouressentialbusinessoperations.
Thegoal istominimize negative consequencesofadisasterfromoccurring.
Toidentifythreatsthatwouldcauseturmoiltoyourbusiness
andtakeappropriatestepstoremedythem.It’sallaboutbeingpre-
paredandtakingapropercourse ofaction.

15. Business continuity is about inspiring confidence that your
organization can continue to operate in the event of a technical
crisis. It is proactiveprotectionagainsttheinherentrisk
allcompanieshave given the heavy reliance on the
technology we use to service our clients.
MICHAEL SIROTA
Director of Sales & Services
Rational Business Solutions

16. JAY WINKS
Senior Systems Architect
InCare Technologies
Businesscontinuity:aconceptualconstructdescribinghowanorganizationmaintains
adefinedminimumoperationalcapacityinthefaceofunplanneddisruptionof
standard,day-to-dayprocessingsystemsandoperatingprocedures.Aneffective
businesscontinuityplanisamulti-facetedandliving,breathingprocess
thatmustgrowwiththeorganizationtoremaineffective.

17. ON A LIGHTER NOTE…

18. Businesscontinuity=Theabilitytocontinue
workingwhensh*thitsthefan.Sh*thitsthefan=
Hardwarefailures,viruses,theft,naturaldisasters,flustered
peoplethathittheirelectronicswhenthingsdon’twork.
GABRIEL ZEVALLOS-CROWE
Owner
Total Computer Solutions, LLC

19. STUART SACKS
Owner
Strategic Data Systems
Business continuity means yourbusinessstays
operatingwhenthecomputergods(primarily
Satan)attempttohelpyourcompetitorsclose
yourbusiness, steal your spouse, and eat your lunch.

20. AND TO SUM IT ALL UP…

21. TONY SHANNON
Systems Engineer
Converged Communication Solutions Ltd
Business continuity is keepingthelightson,
thewheelsturningandthephonesringing,
nomatterwhat the day brings.

22. HOW’S THAT FOR DEFINING
BUSINESS CONTINUITY?
We can’t argue with any of these, because as a
managed service provider, no one understands the
needs of your clients better than YOU.
So we ask you now:
What’s YOUR best definition
of business continuity?
Tweet @datto and let us know!

23. If you need some extra inspiration, or
just some help getting the words out,
we recommend checking out this eBook.
Identifying what makes a
business continuity plan effective is the
first step in defining what true business
continuity is.