Avoid Hard Lessons
by Elise M. Peterson
Posted September 24, 2003
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Elise M. Peterson
Executive Editor |
The worst time to discover you're unprepared is in the middle of a crisis. You don't want to find out the batteries in your flashlight are dead and you're out of matches and candles in the middle of an evening power outage. The same is true in the IT world—after your system crashes isn't the time to learn that your full backups are three months behind and your recovery plan hasn't been updated in two years. The massive blackout in the northeastern United States and Canada in August of this year was a rude awakening for a significant number of companies. In a study conducted by Info-Tech Research Group, 76 percent of companies surveyed admitted they weren't sufficiently prepared for the impact the blackout had on their operations.
Nothing frustrates me more than being in the midst of a disaster that could have been prevented, or at least alleviated, with a little planning. If you experience similar frustration, take the steps necessary to ensure you have a viable backup and recovery plan in place.
Of course, the first step is to ensure you have an up-to-date backup and recovery plan in place in your organization to begin with. If not, now is the time to start. Although almost everyone pays lip service to the idea that backup and recovery plans are a good thing, the statistics don't lie: If 76 percent of companies in the northeast weren't fully prepared, it's likely that figure applies across the country or even the world. Don't be part of this statistic. Instead, be part of a new trend: IT departments well prepared for disaster. As you do so, however, anticipate how you'll overcome likely objections to the financial expense.
Most IT professionals acknowledge that the extent of their backup and recovery plans are determined by finances. Companies commonly estimate how much they can afford to lose in the event of a disaster, then invest in a backup plan and related software accordingly. On the surface, this seems like a good idea. After all, why invest significant time, money, and resources in a detailed backup and recovery plan if the impact of the disaster would cost less than you'd invest to recover from it? Sadly, such attitudes could lead to a bigger disaster. Predicting the full impact of a disaster is difficult, and often you don't know its full impact until it strikes—few IT managers would have ever thought a major portion of the United States and Canada could lose power for several days, and thus few would know how to prepare for it, let alone have a plan in place.
It's also unlikely that most IT managers have enough information to determine the financial impact of significant downtime all on their own. In the Info-Tech study, 67 percent of those polled said the blackout had no financial impact on their company, while 13 percent of those who did report a financial impact said it cost their companies $5 million. It's hard to ignore the discrepancy; obviously some of those polled weren't in tune with their business units and were unable to gauge the financial impact accurately.
This inconsistency makes it clear that IT groups must work hand in hand with the business units of their organization to get a clear picture of how a disaster could impact their ability to do business. Admittedly, it isn't always easy. But it's likely that some key statistics could help motivate the right people to get together. If you're convinced your organization needs to create, update, or completely revamp your backup and recovery policy, do some research to get the information you need to convince your colleagues of the seriousness of the issue.
Creating a backup and recovery plan might seem as annoying as paying your insurance bill, but don't wait for a major disaster to drive home the need for an effective, efficient backup and recovery plan in your organization. Take the necessary steps today to make sure your company can recover quickly and easily should the worst-case scenario occur tomorrow. Don't learn your lessons the hard way.
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