PHILADELPHIA: To coincide with the 2009 Business Continuity Awareness Week held in North America June 21 to 27, SunGard Availability Services announced five key steps it claimed all organisations should adopt to strengthen their business continuity strategy.
Consider the various threats to business operations: In the face of increased public health concerns and the potentially devastating impact of the H1N1 influenza, as well as the rising threat of major natural disasters, a recovery solution for business continuity planning has never been more critical. Disruptions – whether the result of storms and fires, pandemic, power outage or hardware failure – can affect IT infrastructure and ultimately an organisation’s productivity and bottom line. When developing a business continuity strategy, consider the full range of disaster scenarios and plan accordingly.
Test the disaster recovery plan: Although many companies believe they have an effective disaster recovery plan in place, the true effectiveness of such a plan can only be fully understood after it is tested. Even if a company cannot arrange a full-scale exercise, look for smaller ways to test portions of the plan. For example, arrange a test of the call tree or review recent organisational changes and assign new responsibilities based on current structure and available resources.
Bridge the gap between business and IT: The success or failure of a business continuity program hinges on having the entire organisation on the same page for disaster preparedness. In order to be successful, IT professionals need to involve their business unit and colleagues, garner their support and keep them involved.
The recent 2009 State of Disaster Recovery survey commissioned by SunGard and conducted by Harris Interactive revealed a lack of understanding by business executives of the value of disaster recovery and business continuity to organisational success. It 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 facilitates securing greater visibility, respect and understanding for business continuity initiatives.
Prioritise continuity planning with time and data requirements: A business impact analysis will help show how much time a company can afford to have IT systems down – also known as Recovery Time Objective (RTO) – as well as how much data can afford to be lost, being the Recovery Point Objective (RPO). Armed with this knowledge, a company can prioritise response balancing recovery requirements, risk tolerance and how much it is willing to spend on a business continuity strategy.
Business continuity management (BCM) software: BCM software can help organisations 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 and, importantly, can be scaled appropriately to fit companies of any size – irrespective of the maturity of their business continuity program or budget.