Introduction

Risk mitigation is defined as taking steps to reduce adverse effects. Risk mitigation is a commonly used process within traditional business risk management, but as you'll see in this chapter, there are unique aspects to risk mitigation related to business continuity and disaster recovery.

Your data gathering phase has concluded and now it's time to put all this data to work. The mitigation strategy development phase of the business continuity and disaster recovery project plan, shown in Figure 32.1, is where you develop strategies to accept, avoid, reduce, or transfer risks related to potential business disruptions.

Figure 32.1: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Project Plan Progress

Developing the risk mitigation strategies is the last phase of risk management activities, which was shown in Figure 30.2 in Chapter 30. This last segment, depicted here in Figure 32.2, includes the inputs of the risk assessment and business impact analysis data. This information, along with risk mitigation data, is used to develop strategies for managing risks in a manner that is appropriate for your company. Once you have the risk management section completed, you can begin to draft your business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

Figure 32.2: Risk Mitigation Strategy Development Phase

As we've mentioned before, it's important to develop risk mitigation strategies that match your company's profile. If your company is very risk averse and wants to avoid risk at almost any cost, your strategies will be appropriate for that objective. On the other hand, if your company doesn't mind...