Many companies do not realise their dependence on systems and resources until there is a disruption in supply that hurts business, says Warren Machanik, technical director of IT environment management company, Symetrix.
"Some companies respond only to scare tactics with fast-growing companies usually being the most difficult to convince of the importance of planning to ensure business continuity."
Business continuity (BC) is ensuring that business processes continue no matter what happens, says Machanik, "but it's not just a question of technology. BC has to extend to everything employees need to conduct business, such as telephones, stationery, desks and even chairs."
Ben Swartz, Symetrix MD, says unfortunately contingency measures are perceived to be expensive, but that is not necessarily true. Machanik agrees. "Basic BC is not prohibitively expensive." He says if a business has only a few mission-critical processes, protecting them will be relatively inexpensive.
Swartz says an important part of putting the cost of protection in perspective is quantifying the cost of not having those measures in place. He says companies need to identify the risks and then build a BC strategy based on that analysis. "Understanding where your risks are can circumvent problems on inception."
Another consideration, says Machanik, is the damage a lack of continuity can cause to a company's reputation. "It is not easy to quantify the cost of being perceived as unreliable."
Machanik says there are five steps that should be followed to ensure successful business continuity. First he says businesses need to assess the risk, but he warns that an objective point of view is essential. "In-house evaluation of risk inevitably leads to bad decisions."
After risk assessment comes business impact analysis, the formulation of a continuity strategy, and the implementation of that plan. Machanik cautions that BC planning does not end there. "Testing and evaluation of BC measures are absolutely necessary to ensure that when things go wrong, the solution doesn't fail."
Swartz says BC has becoming increasingly important as all businesses have become increasingly dependent on the systems they use. "Through experience, we have come to appreciate that availability of systems is critical."
He says as part of a strategy to provide access and availability as and when required, Symetrix has engaged with technologies that guarantee that availability. "We have worked with companies like Veritas, Stratus and Microsoft to develop a unique suite of business continuity offerings and have supplied continuously available Windows environments to companies like MTN, Standard Bank and De Beers."
Successful BC comes from an approach that includes redundancy at every level, explains Swartz. "Building in redundancy not only provides a backup plan to ensure continuity, but also provides alternative systems that can help business increase productivity."
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