The best football teams don’t just prepare for the game. They prepare for the moment the game plan falls apart. A red card, an injury, a missed pass, a dodgy ref call. Any of it can change everything in seconds.

The teams that bounce back fastest aren’t winging it. They already know who’s leading, how they’re talking to each other, and what happens next.

Businesses face disruptions the same way. Sudden, high-pressure, and never at a convenient time.

An outage, a cyber attack, an unexpected system failure. Any of it can expose gaps you’d never notice when things are running smoothly. More often than not, those gaps come down to a handful of common mistakes that turn a manageable recovery into a much longer headache.

Mistake #1: Assuming backups are enough

Backups are only one piece of recovery. They get your data back, but they don’t tell you what to do once you’ve got it.

Your team still needs to know which systems to bring back first, who owns each step, and how long it’s all going to take. Without that, even a good backup can leave you waiting longer than you should, because the big decisions end up getting made while things are already down, instead of beforehand..

What to do: Put together a simple recovery plan that shows what needs restoring, in what order, and by whom.

Mistake #2: Never testing the plan

A recovery plan that’s never been tested is basically a guess. It might work. Or it might fall apart the moment your team actually needs it.

Testing shows you the gaps while you’ve still got time to fix them. Maybe it’s a backup that won’t restore properly, a step that’s out of date, or a system that takes far longer to bring back online than anyone expected.

What to do: Run through the plan at least once a year, before you’re backed into a corner. If something surprises you during the test, fix it. Don’t explain it away.

Mistake #3: Not sorting out who does what

When a disruption hits, someone needs to make decisions fast. What gets fixed first? Who needs telling? What happens next?

If nobody’s clear on who owns what, your team loses time figuring out who’s in charge instead of actually fixing the problem.

What to do: Assign roles before anything goes wrong. Make sure everyone knows what they’re responsible for, who they need to loop in, and when to escalate.

Mistake #4: Forgetting to plan for communication

A recovery plan needs to cover people, not just systems. During a disruption, your team needs to know what to do, customers need to know what to expect, and suppliers might need a heads-up too.

If your usual way of communicating is down along with everything else, confusion spreads fast.

What to do: Put together a communication plan for staff, customers and suppliers, including backup ways to reach people, and make someone responsible for sending the updates.

Mistake #5: Treating the plan as a one-off job

A recovery plan goes stale fast. People leave, systems change, priorities shift, and the plan doesn’t update itself.

If it’s still relying on old contacts, systems you’ve retired, or steps that no longer apply, it’ll slow you down rather than help.

What to do: Set a regular time to review and update the plan, and revisit it any time there’s a big change to your team, systems, suppliers or priorities.

Recovery favours the prepared

A tested plan, clear ownership, and a solid way to keep everyone talking can be the difference between a disruption and a full-blown crisis.

Sort out these common mistakes now, and you’ll cut down on uncertainty, minimise downtime, and recover with a lot more confidence.

Recovery planning isn’t just about the right technology. It’s about the right strategy too. We help businesses spot the gaps, tighten up their recovery plans, and build preparedness strategies that keep things moving when the unexpected happens.

Not sure if your recovery plan is actually ready? Schedule a 10-minute discovery call with our team here at Siarp.