What is the term used for the maximum time a business can accept before critical systems are restored after a disaster?

The maximum time a business can tolerate before critical systems are restored after a disaster is referred to as the Recovery Time Objective (RTO). RTO is a key metric in business continuity planning and disaster recovery strategies; it determines how quickly systems must be back online to minimize the impact on operations and services.

Understanding RTO is essential for organizations as it helps prioritize recovery efforts for various systems and applications based on their criticality to the business. If a company does not meet its RTO during a disaster recovery, it could face significant financial losses, damage to its reputation, and loss of customer trust.

While other terms like Recovery Point Objective (RPO) or Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) focus on different aspects of recovery and downtime, it is RTO that specifically defines the maximum allowable downtime before critical systems require restoration.