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June 15, 2005

A Better Chance of Survival

It seems like we just closed one of the severest hurricane seasons in decades and now it is time to start all over again. As I hear reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) '2005 Hurricane Outlook', I am once again reminded of how critical a role technology can play in disaster recovery.

Hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods and other destructive weather conditions can destroy an organization's most valued asset--its information. Dangerous weather conditions are only a single possible cause of a data storage disaster. Typical weather conditions such as humidity, computer viruses, prolonged power outages are other possible causes for a data storage disaster.

Note the following statistics from Contingency Planning Research regarding businesses that suffer an incapacitating disaster without a disaster recovery plan:

"Only 43 percent resume operations"
"Of the 43 percent, only 29 percent are in business two years later"
"A total of 87 percent will be out of business in two years"

Those statistics are overwhelming given the fact Inc. Magazine recently reported an estimated "75 percent of small to medium size businesses have no disaster recovery plan."

On a recent flight I was paging through the in-flight magazine and came across an ad from the Department of Homeland Security titled "Every Business Should Have a Plan."

The copy of the ad included this statement "whether it's a flood, terrorist attack or other disaster, every business needs an emergency plan. You can't control what happens, but you can be prepared."

Being prepared includes protecting the critical paper-based information. Paper still remains the highest percentage of information for most organizations. To protect the paper-based information, organizations need to convert it into an electronic format for the purpose of redundant off-site storage. Experts in disaster recovery recommend mirroring the data to two or three off-site storage locations to ensure business continuity.

By Pamela Doyle

Posted by DocuVantage on June 15, 2005 02:49 PM

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