A lifejacket on its own will not save you. It may keep you afloat for a time, but it does not get you back to safety.
Backup works in much the same way. It protects data, but on its own, it does not recover the business.
Over the last 10 years, I’ve spoken to a lot of organisations about business continuity and disaster recovery.
In the last five years, there’s been a clear shift.
This is no longer something businesses do simply to satisfy a requirement.
But there’s still one common mistake I see again and again.
Organisations tend to fall into two camps.
One thinks it is covered because it has invested in backup.
The other feels reassured because there is a recovery plan documented somewhere deep in SharePoint.
Both have spent time.
Both have spent money.
But very few have put enough effort into making sure the two actually work together.
That is where the real risk sits.
The disconnect
Backup and recovery are often treated as separate disciplines.
Backup is owned by infrastructure or security teams.
Disaster recovery sits with operations or business continuity.
On paper, everything looks sound.
In reality, the moment you need to recover, the weak points show up.
Because backup answers one question:
“Do we have the data?”
Recovery answers a very different one:
“Can we actually run the business again?”
Those are not the same thing.
Where it breaks down
A business suffers a ransomware attack or major outage.
The backup system has done its job. The data exists. But then:
– Restore speeds do not meet expectations
– Dependencies between systems are not fully understood
– Network, security and access controls are not aligned
– Recovery environments are not ready
– No one is clear on the order services that need to come back
What should be a controlled recovery turns into a rush.
Not because the backup failed.
Because recovery was never properly built into the wider plan.
Backup without disaster recovery is just storage
A backup solution, on its own, is essentially a well-organised archive.
Useful? Yes.
Resilient? Not on its own.
Real resilience comes from combining:
– Backup, for data protection
– Recovery, for service restoration
– Testing, to prove it actually works
Most importantly, they need to be designed as a single, joined-up solution, not as separate investments.
Bringing it together
At CiContinuity, we focus on closing that disconnect.
Keeping data secure is only part of the picture.
The real test is whether you can recover quickly and reliably in a way that gets the business operating again.
That means:
– Backup platforms aligned to recovery environments
– Predefined infrastructure ready to be stood up
– Clear, tested recovery processes
– Realistic RPOs and RTOs based on actual recovery capability
– Regular rehearsals to prove everything works under pressure
Confidence should not come from documentation alone.
It should come from knowing the process has already been tested.
About the Author
James Sale
Business Development Executive, CiContinuityJames helps organisations safeguard their operations by delivering robust Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery solutions. With extensive experience in IT resilience, backup, and recovery, he specialises in protecting critical systems from downtime, cyber threats, and unforeseen disruptions.
At CiContinuity, James works with businesses to design tailored continuity strategies. These include cloud-to-cloud backup, replication, and traditional ship-to-site recovery. His focus is on reducing risk, ensuring compliance, and providing cost-effective alternatives to hyperscale cloud providers, while guaranteeing UK data sovereignty.
If you would like to review whether your backup and disaster recovery approach is working as one, get in touch with our experts.
Key Takeaways
Backup and disaster recovery are not the same. Backup protects data, while disaster recovery focuses on restoring the systems, access, infrastructure and processes needed to keep the business operating.
A backup is only useful if it can support recovery. Restore speeds, system dependencies, network access and recovery environments all affect whether the business can return to service quickly.
Disaster recovery needs to be planned as part of business continuity. Infrastructure, security, operations and continuity teams need a joined-up approach rather than separate plans that only meet on paper.
RPOs and RTOs should be based on real recovery capability. Targets need to reflect what can actually be achieved during a disruption, rather than what looks acceptable in documentation.
Testing is where confidence is built. Regular rehearsals help expose gaps before an outage, ransomware attack, or major service failure turns them into business-critical problems.