Eight steps to being ready for disaster
Debra Young
Published: 27 Apr 2004 11:45 BST
With the rise in cyberattacks, terrorism, and industrial sabotage -- not to mention natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes -- business continuity management has quickly come to the forefront as more and more enterprises are being forced to invoke their disaster-recovery plans. If concerns for business survival, damaged reputation, and eroding investor confidence aren't enough to convince you it's time to get on the bandwagon, then how about the growing pressure from government regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley requiring you to prove that your plan is a viable one?
Joyce Repsher, director of Global Business Continuity Management Services for Dallas-based Electronic Data Systems, offers TechRepublic readers eight concrete steps that they can take to ensure that their companies are amply prepared to face any business disruption.
Step 1: Be proactive rather than reactive. It's cheaper in the long run
Work through the possible disaster scenarios ahead of time so that you have an idea of what might happen to company operations and what steps you'll need to take to counteract the disruption. You're going to spend a lot less money when the real disaster hits because you have all your ducks in a row. You'll pay a premium for resources if you're caught scrambling after the fact.
Repsher tells of an EDS client, a retailer with several branches across the United States, who rejected spending $700,000 (£390,653) to implement an enterprise-wide virus-prevention package. About a month later, the Nimda virus hit and the enterprise was down for more than a week. "It cost them 10 times the amount of the originally proposed antivirus package to restore their operations and get the virus cleaned out of their systems," reports Repsher.
Step 2: Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Spread your vital operations across more than one location to provide sufficient redundancy to fail over to another facility should a disruption occur. Make backups frequently and store them outside the facility. If you can afford it, make and store backups in several locations. Randomly and periodically check on the backups to make sure they're actually viable and accessible. And don't forget your PC data!
"What many enterprises overlook is that a lot of vital company data resides on employees' laptops," notes Repsher. "And if it's not backed up, you're really out of commission." She recalls one forward-thinking global company whose executives were travelling through Europe attending several strategic planning sessions. During the journey, one executive's laptop was stolen. But because she had been conscientiously backing up her data through a mobile information protection package, she was able to quickly recover the financial, HR, and operations data she needed to participate in the meetings.
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