The impact of the global financial crisis on the business continuity market
212 responses were received in total from all around the world. Regions providing the highest response rates were: Australia and New Zealand: 10 percent 74 percent of respondents were from large organizations (over 500 employees), 12 percent from medium (100 to 499 employees) and 14 percent from small organizations (less than 100 employees). Many respondents came from the financial sector and related areas, with respondents by sector including: Banking: 13 percent Responses by question: 1) Has the global financial crisis and the credit crunch had an impact on business continuity planning in your organization? In total, 57 percent of respondents said that the global financial crisis and the credit crunch had had no impact on business continuity planning in their organization. 33 percent reported that it had had a negative impact and 10 percent said that its impact had been positive in terms of business continuity planning in their organization. When broken down by organizational size some differences could be seen. Medium sized organizations reported the most impact on business continuity activities, with 38 percent reporting a negative impact. 34 percent of large organizations also reported a negative impact; but only 27 percent of small organizations did. Large organizations were most likely to state that the global financial crisis and the credit crunch had had a positive impact on business continuity activities; 11 percent stated that this was the case, compared to 6 percent of small organizations and zero medium sized organizations. 67 percent of small organizations said that the global financial crisis and the credit crunch had had no impact at all on business continuity activities. 55 percent of large and 62 percent of medium sized organizations also reported that this was the case. Regional differences were quite striking, with Western Europe-based organizations apparently being least affected, closely followed by UK organizations. Those located in the United States were the most badly impacted. The following shows the percentage of regional respondents who said that the global financial crisis and the credit crunch was having a negative impact on business continuity planning in their organization: W.Europe: 23 percent And the following shows the percentage of regional respondents who said that the global financial crisis and the credit crunch was having a positive impact on business continuity planning in their organization: Australia and New Zealand : 0 percent 2) How has spending on business continuity been in 2008 compared to your expectations? A slim majority (52 percent of respondents) reported that spending on business continuity in 2008 had matched their expectations. However 36 percent said that it had been lower (23 percent) or much lower (13 percent) than expected. Only 12 percent stated that spending was higher (9 percent) or much higher (3 percent). Regional differences were again apparent. In some regions the majority of respondents reported that business continuity spending was lower than expected. Those based in SE Asia appear to be most affected, with 62.5 percent of respondents reporting that business continuity spending was lower (50 percent) or much lower (12.5 percent). The United States also appears to be badly affected, with 52 percent of respondents reporting that spending was lower (29 percent) or much lower (23 percent). Spending seems to be holding up best in the United Kingdom, with only 25 percent of respondents saying that it would be lower (20 percent) or much lower (5 percent) than expected. The full regional breakdown follows: Australia and New Zealand Canada SE Asia UK US W.Europe 3) How will spending on business continuity in 2009 compare to spending in 2008? Overall, the majority of organizations expect business continuity spending to hold up in 2009, with 42.5 percent stating that it would be the same in 2009 as it was in 2008 and 20.5 percent expecting it to be higher (19 percent) or much higher (1.5 percent) in 2009. 37 percent anticipate that business continuity spending will fall: 20 percent say that spending will be lower in 2009 compared to 2008 and 17 percent state that it will be much lower. Organizations based in the United Kingdom were the most positive. Only 24 percent thought that spending would be lower (16 percent) or much lower (8 percent) in 2009. This was followed by Western Europe-based organizations, where only 30.5 percent thought that business continuity spending would be lower (13 percent) or much lower (17.5 percent) in 2009 compared to 2008. The most pessimistic respondents were based in the United States. Here, 51 percent thought that business continuity spending would be lower (29 percent) or much lower (22 percent). SE Asia followed closely behind, with 50 percent of respondents believing that spending would be lower (25 percent) or much lower (25 percent). The full regional breakdown follows: Australia and New Zealand Canada SE Asia UK US W.Europe 4) Thinking of staffing requirements in the business continuity team in your organization, how has this changed recently? The majority of organizations seem to be maintaining business continuity teams at their current levels. 64 percent of total respondents said that this was the case. 22 percent of organizations reported that they had a reduced requirement for business continuity staff and 14 percent said that they had recently taken on more team members. Job losses appear to be highest in the Australia and New Zealand region, with 40 percent of respondents stating that staffing requirements were reduced. Western Europe organizations also reported high numbers of staff reductions (30.5 percent of organizations had a reduced requirement) but this region also reported the highest growth, with 17.5 percent of organizations saying that they had recently taken on extra business continuity team members. The full regional breakdown follows: Australia and New Zealand Canada SE Asia UK US W.Europe 5) Will the financial crisis result in more regulations related to business continuity? The final question in the survey looked at the issue of regulation and asked whether respondents thought that regulations relating to business continuity would increase as a result of the global financial crisis and the credit crunch. Overall, 44 percent of respondents expect more business continuity related regulations and 56 percent do not. No respondents expected less regulation in future. Respondents from the financial services and the banking sector were the most expectant of new business continuity regulations (62 percent and 61 percent, respectively, anticipate more regulations in future as a result of the global financial crisis and the credit crunch). However, only 27 percent of those from the insurance industry expect to see increased regulation. 40 percent of telecommunications sector respondents expect more business continuity regulations, which is the highest level outside financial sectors. This was followed by energy and other utilities (30 percent), the public sector (24 percent) and computer hardware, software & services (23 percent). When looked at regionally, Western Europe was the only area where the majority of respondents expect to see more regulations relating to business continuity as a result of the financial crisis and credit crunch. The United States was the region with the least expectation of this, with only 34 percent of respondents anticipating more regulation. The full list follows: Percentage expecting more business continuity regulations as a result of the financial crisis and credit crunch:
•Date: 20th Nov 2008• Region:Various •Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics |
SPONSOR: Business Continuity from Backup Technology
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