business continuity plans

Plan for power outages

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Most of us forget that computer systems are only as good as the electrical power that keeps them up and running. So it is especially alarming to hear that most business continuity plans could not withstand a regional outage lasting more than 7 days. A new Gartner poll found that organizations must grow their business continuity and disaster recovery strategies to make sure that they can handle a power outage lasting at least a month. Gartner surveyed 349 IT professionals from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. It found that nearly 60 percent had business continuity plans for outages that lasted only 7 days, and that most companies focused on internal IT disruptions, not regional ones.

"If you start looking at some of the events we've [experienced] over the last few years, companies must plan for events that actually take much longer to recover from," said Gartner analyst Roberta Witty said. "This is an issue [businesses] have to deal with -- it's in front of everyone's face right now."

The survey found that continuity plans were spotty. Only half the companies are prepared to deal with terrorism-related IT outages while two thirds have plans to deal with outages caused by fire. The survey suggests companies must be prepared for quicker responses and should install incident management techniques that work. "That's what [business continuity] is about. If you don't have people to manage it, a data center is useless," Witty said.

For more on getting ready for power outages:
- See this ComputerWeek article

The IT motto: Be prepared

Wed, 16 May 2007 20:01:36 -0400

As hurricane season approaches, it's time for businesses to think hard about whether or not their their disaster recovery and business continuity plans are adequate. Anticipate potential problems in advance and create a well-documented, comprehensive plan to address both disaster recovery and continuity of essential business processes. Assess both networks and business models to determine risks, as well as operational and financial exposures. Choose business partners whose resources are readily available for rapid deployment. Inventory critical equipment and applications and assess vulnerabilities. Deploy networks engineered to meet your changing business requirements. Build redundancy to support critical operations. Use network-based services to rapidly restore service. Maintain worker productivity through applications like remote access alert notification services and conferencing. Train and educate your employees to do their jobs in the office, on the road or at home. And finally, continually review, test and refresh your plan.

Learn more about business continuity and disaster recovery:
- read the press release at PRNewswire

ALSO:
- read this on satisfying both sides when it comes to disaster recovery
- this on why disaster recovery isn't enough
- this on best practices for disaster recovery
- and this on current trends in disaster recovery

Survey: Disaster Recovery Plans put on backburner

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Perhaps it's spring fever, but CIOs are not taking the time necessary to put business continuity plans in place. Hewlett-Packard recently polled 564 IT decision makers at large and mid-sized companies on their business continuity plans. Surprisingly, some 55 percent said their companies couldn't agree on a technology solution, while 49 percent said that they just didn't have enough time in the day. With a record number of hurricanes predicted for the eastern shore this year, CIOs would be smart to start their planning early.

For more on Disaster planning:
- see this article at CIO

Survey: No time for business continuity planning

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Although all CIOs know the importance of a structured business continuity plan to aid in the event that data, networks or employees are compromised, more than half of CIOs admit to having no plan, according to a survey sponsored by Hewlett-Packard. Reasons for failing to develop such an important plan ranged from a lack of time and a lack of experienced internal resources to lack of data needed to make a business case for implementation or a failure for stakeholders to agree on a technology solution for business continuity. The importance of business continuity requires overcoming these obstacles, something that many companies can do by hiring vendors and other external experts to help the process along.

Read more about why some companies don't have business continuity plans:
- read the article at SearchCIO

ALSO: read this on why IT isn't the final word in business continuity

IT isn't the final word in business continuity

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:01:36 -0400

Companies are doing themselves a disservice by relying too heavily on IT in business continuity plans, according to the Business Continuity Institute. In fact, doing so could increase the time that it takes a department to recover from a crisis. Departments should draw up detailed plans that clearly define the roles that employees are expected to undertake during a crisis. Companies should also document the processes that staff should follow to ensure the continuity of business and organizations should regularly audit their business continuity plans against live scenario tests.

Read more about IT and business continuity:
- read the article at ComputerWeekly