This exploratory study investigates domains, good practices, and challenges relevant to Information Technology (IT) recovery testing. Through semi-structured interviews with industry professionals and a review of international standards, the research identifies eleven key domains involving, e.g., a regulatory push, the maturity of BCM, and simply test execution. Findings indicate that challenges frequently occur during chain recovery tests, maintaining detailed insight into executed testing activities, and gathering best practices for more scenario-oriented approaches. Additionally, organizations with stronger decentralization structures reported more challenges.
The study highlights a gap in the current academic literature, which predominantly offers non-generalizable technical test protocols or only touches upon recovery testing, with a limited acknowledgment of its importance. As such, this research emphasizes the need for further academic study into identified domains, empirical validation of best practices, and the development of practical solutions to address the reported challenges.