Download Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (BCDR) Policy Template
Resilience isn't about avoiding disasters; it’s about outlasting them. In an era of 2026 cyber threats and climate volatility, a documented BCDR policy is your organization’s ultimate insurance policy. Our BCDR Template provides the roadmap to identify critical functions, set recovery targets, and maintain compliance, ensuring your business stays "always-on" even when the unexpected strikes.
What is this Template For?
This template provides the high-level governance framework required to manage disruptive events. It bridges the gap between IT Disaster Recovery (getting the servers back up) and Business Continuity (keeping the business running while the servers are down).
It outlines the roadmap for:
- Emergency Response: Immediate actions to ensure life safety.
- Business Impact Analysis (BIA): Deciding what functions matter most.
- Recovery Strategies: Technical and operational steps to restore normalcy.
- Testing & Maintenance: Ensuring the plan actually works when needed.
Why Use This Template? (The Purpose)
The goal of a BCDR policy is to replace chaos with coordination. This template serves four critical objectives:
- Define Recovery Targets: It forces your leadership to define RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective). Without these metrics, IT teams don't know how fast they need to recover or how much data loss the business can tolerate.
- Protect Reputation & Revenue: By establishing "Alternative Work Arrangements," you ensure that even if your office is inaccessible, your customers still receive service.
- Ensure Regulatory Compliance: Many modern regulations, such as DORA or HIPAA, mandate documented recovery plans. This template satisfies the "documentation" requirement for most global standards.
- Operationalize Preparedness: It moves BCDR from a "dusty manual on a shelf" to a living program of drills and tabletop exercises.
How to Use the BCDR Policy Template
To transform this template into a functional shield for your business, follow these steps:
Step 1: Conduct a Business Impact Analysis (BIA)
Use Section 6 as your guide. Meet with department heads to identify "Critical Business Functions." Ask: "If this process stops for 4 hours, what happens? What about 24 hours?" Use the results to set your MTD (Maximum Tolerable Downtime).
Step 2: Establish Your Recovery Strategy
Don't just say you'll "back up data." Specify the strategy. Will you use Hot Sites (immediate failover), Warm Sites, or Cloud-native Disaster Recovery? Document these technical choices in the DRP section.
Step 3: Formalize the Crisis Communication Plan
Disasters are often exacerbated by poor communication. Use the template to designate who is authorized to speak to the media, how employees will be notified (SMS, app, email), and how you will update your customers during an outage.
Step 4: Schedule Your First "Tabletop" Exercise
A plan is only a theory until it’s tested. Use the requirements in Section 7 to schedule a non-disruptive "Tabletop Exercise" where key stakeholders walk through a hypothetical scenario (like a ransomware attack) to find gaps in the policy.