Differences between BCP, DRP and Crisis Management

It's common to confuse these three concepts because they're usually activated together in response to the same event, but each answers a different question and requires its own documents and owners. The BCP, or business continuity plan, defines how the organization keeps its critical processes running for the duration of a disruption, regardless of the cause. The DRP, or disaster recovery plan, focuses specifically on restoring the technology infrastructure that supports those processes: servers, networks, systems. Crisis management, on the other hand, coordinates decision-making at the highest level, external communication and reputation during the event, without going into the operational detail of the other two. Understanding this separation matters because activating the wrong plan delays the response; for example, treating a high-profile cyberattack only as a technical DRP problem without activating crisis management can leave the organization without a coordinated message to customers and the media.