ANYONE, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE


By Jack Kohane


DISASTERS AND MAJOR BUSINESS INTERRUPTIONS ARE BOUND TO HAPPEN. IT IS HOW COMPANIES PLAN AND REACT TO THEM THAT IS THE KEY TO ENSURING THAT CRITICAL OPERATIONS CONTINUE TO BE AVAILABLE SO WORK FLOW IS NOT GROUND TO A HALT


N


o matter if it’s an act of God or man- made cataclysm, a business’s survival rate when disaster hits is only as good as the plan it has in place.


The fact of the matter is that if a com-


pany’s survivability isn’t mapped out prior to a business-busting calamity, the re- sulting tsunami could sink an enterprise — and fast. Essentially, a robust business continuity plan can help protect a corporation against almost any disaster. The plan is generally defined as how a business can stay up and running in the event of disaster, including incidents such as building fires, earthquakes and cyber attacks, or national threats like sabotage or pandemic illnesses.


But a business continuity plan is typically 20 SECURITY MATTERS • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010


not enough. More is needed, such as a Business Resumption Plan, which describes how to resume business after a disruption, and a Disaster Recovery Plan, which deals with recovering information technology assets after a disastrous interruption. Both imply a stoppage in critical operations and are reactive. Instead of focusing on resuming a business after critical operations have ceased, or recovering after a disaster, a business continuity plan endeavours to ensure that critical operations continue to be available. As such, there has been a shift from Business Resumption and Disaster Recovery planning to Business Continuity Planning.


“It is essential for every enterprise that mission-critical systems always be available to employees and customers,” says Bradley


Brodkin, president of Toronto-based High- Vail Systems, an IT solutions firm offering failsafe data infrastructure, storage and technologies. “Today, advanced technology infrastructure is crucial to running mission- critical applications. High availability means that downtime is never unplanned. No matter what, an organization’s systems are always operational.”


The tragic events of 9/11 illustrate how an unforeseen event can not only kill people in an instant, but cripple busi- nesses for years. Here is an example: a high-profile investment banking and bro- kerage services firm housed its global corporate headquarters on the upper floors. The company handled about one-quarter of the daily transactions in the multi-trillion-dollar market attack.


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