An Introduction to DORA: Understanding the Digital Operational Resilience Act and Its Impact
Understanding how DORA applies to an organisation, how it shapes customer expectations, and what constitutes appropriate evidence and documentation is central to meeting operational resilience obligations. Before going any further, it is important to step back and examine what DORA is designed to achieve, as this context underpins every compliance and governance decision that follows.
DORA, the Digital Operational Resilience Act, is now approaching its first year of full enforcement. Since becoming mandatory on 17 January 2025, it has fundamentally reshaped how the European financial sector approaches technology risk, resilience, and cyber readiness. Financial institutions and their critical service providers have been operating under a higher standard of operational discipline, with a consistent message emerging across the industry: operational resilience is no longer a discretionary capability, but a regulatory expectation…