Ibm Systems

FORWARD VIEW

Five essential elements of business recovery

Plenty of hazarDs can take yoUr bUsiness offline for Days, bUt in a comPetitive bUsiness environment even foUr hoUrs of Downtime coUlD Prove fatal. Plan for more than jUst the worst-case scenario. learn how five essential elements of bUsiness recovery helP comPanies absorb UnexPecteD blows—anD still keeP going.

In the current business environment, the old adage “time is money” applies now more than ever. So what happens when everyday operations are disrupted? According to the U.S. Labor Department, more than 40 percent of all companies that experience a disaster never reopen—and more than 25 percent of those that do reopen after a disaster occurs will close down for good within two years. But even if your company doesn’t go through a major disaster, chances are high that it will experience the negative consequences of unplanned outages that make business as usual impossible. The problem is amplified in challenging economic times, says Warren Sirota, a segment executive with IBM Business Continuity and Resiliency Services. “If the business is already suffering from lower revenue because of the economy and a significant outage occurs, the impact can be much more dramatic than during good times,” he says.

Wildfires may not be prevalent where a business operates, but no company is exempt from the risk of a building fire. And while Mother Nature is responsible for many outages, downtime can also be caused by air conditioning failures, coffee machine malfunctions, bursting pipes, human error, insects, roof cave-ins and vandalism. No matter the cause of a disaster, the accompanying costs quickly add up. In some industries, says Infonetics Research, downtime costs can equal up to 16 percent of revenue. And according to the analysis firm Meta Group, every hour of downtime carries an hourly cost of more than $200 for every employee on staff. Unfortunately, many routine security and business continuity...