New research by Viatel has explored business continuity planning differences between the finance, retail and manufacturing sectors. 100 percent of finance sector organisations surveyed had business continuity plans in place, compared to 89 percent of retailers and 80 percent of manufacturing businesses.

On the face of it, these figures suggest that take-up of business continuity is higher than ever in the UK, however, the research also indicates that many business continuity plans do not provide comprehensive coverage of mission critical systems and processes, with the telephone system being a particular weak link. Respondents were asked ‘Do you include ‘phone systems in your business continuity strategy?’: only 44 percent in the finance sector, 40 percent in manufacturing and a dismal 28 percent in the retail sector replied ‘yes’ to this question.

Altogether, 88 percent of businesses estimated that it would take at least a day to re-build/access systems following a disaster, with many expecting this to take three days or longer.

The survey also found that almost half (44 percent) of respondents had customers that demand a business continuity plan as part of the contract.

Read a more detailed breakdown here (PDF)

•Date: 3rd August 2006• Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics
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