Lack of Understanding by Business Executives of the Value of DR and Business Continuity

According to the Disaster Recovery Institute International, June 21 to 27 marks the 2009 Business Continuity Awareness Week in North America. SunGard Availability Services urges companies to take this opportunity to introduce and strengthen the concepts of business continuity planning within their organization.

In recognition of Business Continuity Awareness Week, SunGard recommends companies follow these steps:

• Consider the various threats to business operations. In the face of increased public health concerns and the potential impact surrounding the H1N1 influenza virus, as well as the onset of the 2009 hurricane season, a disaster recovery solution for business continuity planning has never been more critical. Disruptions – whether the result of a hurricane, pandemic, power outage or hardware failure – can affect your IT infrastructure and ultimately, your organization’s productivity and bottom-line. When developing a business continuity strategy, your company should consider the full range of disaster scenarios and plan accordingly.
• Test your disaster recovery plan. Many companies think they have an effective disaster recovery plan in place. However, the true effectiveness of a plan can only be fully understood after it is tested. Business Continuity Awareness Week provides a perfect catalyst to initiate a test of your plan. Even if your company cannot arrange a full-scale exercise, look for smaller ways to test portions of your plan. For example, arrange a test of your company’s call tree or review recent organizational changes and assign new responsibilities based on the current structure and available resources.
• Often, organizations find weaknesses during testing that they plan to address and correct over time. If you have conducted a preparedness test or exercise recently, now is the time to revisit and review your findings – and act to mitigate these weaknesses.
• Bridge the gap between business and IT. The success or failure of a business continuity program hinges on having the entire organization on the same page for disaster preparedness. In order to be successful, IT professionals need to involve their business unit colleagues, garner their support and keep them involved.

The 2009 State of Disaster Recovery survey commissioned by SunGard Availability Services and conducted by Harris Interactive revealed a lack of understanding by business executives of the value of disaster recovery and business continuity to organizational success. This research shows how important it is for IT professionals to educate and closely involve business decision-makers in disaster recovery planning. Combining comprehensive planning with available technology, information, and industry insights will go a long way to securing greater visibility, respect and understanding for your business continuity initiatives.

Prioritize your business continuity planning efforts with time and data requirements. A business impact analysis will help show how much time your company can afford to have IT systems down – also known as Recovery Time Objective (RTO) – as well as how much data you can afford to lose – the Recovery Point Objective (RPO). Armed with this knowledge, your company can prioritize your response balancing recovery requirements, risk tolerance and how much you are willing to spend on a business continuity strategy.

Consider the benefits of business continuity management (BCM) software. BCM software helps organizations develop planning strategies that simplify processes and manage the entire lifecycle of their continuity program – regardless of the technologies used for business continuity and disaster recovery. BCM software is a tool built to accommodate change and address the unique demands of information availability. It can be scaled appropriately to fit companies of any size – regardless of the maturity of their business continuity program or their budget. Take a look at your current business continuity plan and assess whether your organization could save time and resources by implementing BCM software tools.

"Business Continuity Awareness Week provides an opportunity for organizations to re-examine their business continuity plans. It reinforces the message that IT and business share the responsibility for keeping systems, information and people connected," said Brian Turley, senior vice president and general manager, software solutions at SunGard Availability Services. "At SunGard Availability Services, our customers rely on us to deliver tools to build plans, practice for disruptions and prevail over disasters. We help organizations reduce the downside risk of interrupted business processes and prepare them to utilize the upside potential and competitive advantage of continuous operations."