7 Steps to crisis readiness

MIS | Magazine > 7 Steps to crisis readiness

By Jimmy Yap

More often than not, IT heads are put in charge of their companies’ business continuity plans.

Jimmy Yap finds out what they must do to come up with an effective program.

As the head of I.T., you have been put in charge of the company’s business continuity plan (BCP). While you know a lot about data recovery, business continuity is a different kettle of fish altogether.

After all, it is easy enough to work out smart strategies to recover data. Solutions range from an off-site live mirror of the data to regular tape backups, also stored off-site. The final decision will be guided by clear technical requirements like how much down time you can afford and the speed of recovery needed.

However, recovering the business demands more than just recovering data, as the events of September 11 made amply clear.

Business continuity management (BCM) is no longer solely in the hands of the CIO. In fact, there is a growing move to take business continuity planning out of the hands of the IT department (see box, “Don’t Give Business Continuity Planning To IT”).

However, until all companies decide to appoint a full-time BCP manager, most IT chiefs will end up wearing the BCP hat as well.

We find out how some BCP managers put an effective business continuity program in place.