Disaster Recovery: Why It Belongs on the Board Agenda

If your IT team told you tomorrow that they couldn’t recover a core system for 24 hours—or longer—what would your board do? For many organisations, even an hour of downtime would have a material impact. For others, the risks escalate dramatically once outages extend into full days. The uncomfortable truth is that many boards would scramble, point fingers, and ultimately realise they’d been treating disaster recovery as an “IT line item” rather than what it truly is: a strategic business risk.

This outdated mindset leaves critical gaps in accountability, funding, and testing. When incidents occur—and they will—the consequences extend far beyond the IT department. Revenue stops, customers lose trust, and regulatory scrutiny intensifies.

The shift from viewing DR as a technical problem to recognising it as a board-level business risk isn't just smart governance—it's essential for survival in 2025's threat landscape.

The Core Problem: DR Lives in the Wrong Place

Several converging factors make disaster recovery a strategic imperative that demands board attention:

Cyber risk has become board risk. Regulators, insurers, and customers now expect boards to demonstrate active oversight of cyber resilience. The days of delegating cyber risk entirely to IT are over. Directors face personal liability for inadequate cyber governance, and DR forms a critical component of that framework.

DR impacts every business function. When systems fail, the consequences ripple across finance, operations, sales, and customer service. Downtime translates directly to revenue loss and reputational damage—outcomes that extend far beyond IT's remit. Boards must understand these cross-functional impacts to make informed risk decisions.

Regulatory expectations continue rising. UK GDPR, NIS2, and emerging supply chain risk frameworks all require demonstrable recovery planning. Compliance isn't just about having a plan—it's about proving that plan works and that governance oversight exists at the highest levels.

Investors and insurers scrutinise DR maturity. Business resilience has become a due diligence item, not just a checkbox. Organisations with robust, board-governed DR strategies secure better insurance terms and higher valuations. Those without face increased scrutiny and higher costs.

Modern DR spans multiple environments. Recovery now involves SaaS applications, cloud infrastructure, and on-premises systems. Boards must understand what's covered by each provider, what gaps exist, and who's accountable for end-to-end business continuity.

Five Strategic Moves to Elevate DR as a Board Priority

Transforming disaster recovery from an IT project into a strategic business function requires deliberate action across five key areas:

Own the Risk at Board Level

Shift the language from "IT failure" to "business interruption risk." Assign a specific board member accountability for business resilience outcomes. This person doesn't need technical expertise, but they must understand the business impact of various failure scenarios and ensure appropriate resources are allocated to mitigation efforts.

Demand Reporting on Recovery KPIs

Ensure that metrics like Recovery Time Objectives (RTO), Recovery Point Objectives (RPO), last successful test dates, and recovery success rates appear on executive dashboards. These metrics should be reported with the same regularity and attention as financial or safety metrics.

Include DR in Strategic Risk Reviews

Treat disaster recovery with the same rigour applied to financial risk, compliance risk, or supply chain exposure. Regular board reviews should assess not just whether DR plans exist, but whether they're tested, funded, and aligned with business priorities.

Fund DR as Business Continuity, Not IT Spend

Budget for resilience in terms of business value—cost avoidance, compliance requirements, uptime guarantees, and customer retention. Frame DR investments as business insurance rather than technical infrastructure, making the ROI calculation clearer for board decision-making.

Test the Plan, Then Challenge It

Ask when recovery plans were last tested. Ask what happens if your primary recovery provider fails. Ask who's accountable for business process continuity during recovery. Push beyond technical restoration to understand how quickly normal business operations can resume.

DR Is Business Strategy, Not Just Technology

Disaster recovery has evolved from a technical project into a core business resilience strategy. Organisations that continue to treat it solely as an IT responsibility, rather than a board priority, leave themselves exposed to unnecessary risk.

Modern threats demand modern governance—and that starts with leadership recognising that DR isn’t about technology, but about ensuring the organisation can survive and thrive when disruption happens.

If disaster recovery isn’t on your board’s agenda, you already have a risk gap. The question isn’t if disruption will occur, but whether your business is prepared to respond strategically when it does.

Want to see how leading organisations are making the shift?

Join our live webinar, How to Make Disaster Recovery a Boardroom Priority, and learn how to elevate DR into a true strategic advantage.