Building the business case for Business Continuity

Justin DaveySenior ConsultantCA

60% of companies DO NOT have a basic business continuity plan

Only 6% of companies that suffer a catastrophic data loss survive

Some downtime has a 100% probability – i.e. Human error

Did you know?

Source: Gartner Group, IT Research & Consulting Provider

What Causes Downtime?

Source: Ontrack, Data Availability Service Provider

7%

32%

14%4%

44% Computer Virus

Human Error

Software Malfunction

Site Disaster

Hardware Malfunction

Do you currently know?

> How long your applications can be down before there’s a business impact?

> How much data you can afford to lose before there’s a business impact?

> What would be the hourly cost of downtime to your business?

> How your company actually defines a disaster?

> And how does that definition differ from both the IT and Business aspects?

BUSINESSDRIVERS

> Reduction of downtime (Costs $ & Reputation)

> Compliance

> Maintaining Trust of customers & suppliers

> Growing IT dependance.

DR & Business Continuity

requires input from both

TECHNOLOGYDRIVERS

> Ease of management

> Quick recovery

> Costs within budget

> Scalability

> Compatibility

Business & IT Perspectives

RPO Vs RTO

Balancing Risks & Costs

Failover/CDP

Replication

Disk Staging / VTL

Backup to Tape / Archiving

Mission CriticalTrading Systems/ERP/eMail

Near CriticalApplications/Databases

Important File Systems

Needs ProtectionRecords

Rec

ove

ry T

ime

Ob

ject

ive

Co

st of

Pro

tection

Amount of dataLow Risk High Risk

There will be inhibitors to your plan!

> Executive Management Commitment (Support and involvement).

> Identification of Processes (Ability to identify and detail critical processes and the systems they rely on).

> Technology Issues (Being able to relate business processes back to critical technologies).

> External hosted solutions may be an option but often can be seen as too costly and risky being 'outside our control'

> Lack of alignment between business and IT

Seven Rules of Reliable Data Protection

1. Keep multiple copies of critical data

2. From multiple points in time

3. On different pieces of media

4. In different places

5. Securely

6. Keep track of everything

7. And test regularly

BE FLEXIBLE ABOVE ALL ELSE!

REMEMBER!

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Questions?

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Where to from here?

>Have a think about what’s critical for your organisation from your IT perspective.

>Correlate this with what the business thinks. It will be most likely different!

>Review the needs and look at what the correct technology response would be.

>Walk before you run – it’s easier!

>AND Remember to be flexible!

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Thank you!