Blackouts & Backups: Business Interruption or Business Continuity?

For many of us in Ontario and the Eastern US, the August 14th blackout brought business to a standstill.   For others, successful disaster recovery plans kept business performing continuously throughout the blackout.   A recent New York Times article notes that most companies only engage in serious disaster recovery planning when government regulation or key contracts (service level agreements) require it.   Itbusiness.ca gives a Canadian perspective on disaster plans in operation at a bank during the blackout, where the data centre was expected to run on diesel power until the power grid was fully up and running. Now is the perfect time for organizations affected by the August 14th and 15th blackouts to analyze the costs of a work stoppage, and protect against future similar loss by addressing these questions.  

• What are the risks of a stoppage?
• What is the likelihood of those risks occurring?
• What are the expected costs of such a stoppage?
• What is the priority of access to backup systems required for each department in the organization?
• Is there an alternate site?   What security features protect on -and off-site data? Will there be competition for access to the alternate site?   Will the alternate site be affected by the disaster?   Is a hot site preferable to a cold site?   How will key employees and data get to the alternate site?
• How much will the disaster plan cost?   Does existing business insurance cover some of these costs?

By answering these questions and balancing costs and benefits, you will have made an excellent start on your business continuity plan. For the New York Times Article, "Disaster Plans Get New Scrutiny After Blackout", August 19, 2003, by John Schwartz, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?L118325B5.   (This may require a free account from The New York Times Online to access recent articles.) For a Canadian perspective from Itbusiness.ca "Blackout tests enterprise disaster recovery plans", August 19, 2003, by Shane Schick, see: http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=53190. Summary by:   Nicholas J. Whalen For help negotiating disaster recovery plans with third parties, contact Amy-Lynne Williams (awilliams@dww.com).