US companies better prepared to protect business critical information and data than a year ago

A new study conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by SunGard Availability Services has uncovered a major confidence gap in disaster preparedness for the companies surveyed. The senior executive respondents say that, while their companies' ability to deliver ‘continuous information availability’ during a disaster is getting better, they still cannot give their abilities a high grade.

In the survey of US-based senior executives, 46 percent of the respondents indicate that their companies are more prepared compared to last year in their ability to access business critical data in the event of a disaster. Yet, almost four in 10 (39 percent) respondents provide grades at a C or lower for their capabilities, citing deficiencies such as inconsistent practices, lack of preparedness and competing priorities.

The percentage of senior executive respondents giving low grade ratings is increasing, compared to similar surveys conducted in the last two years. In 2004, only 24 percent of respondents graded their organizations at a C or lower, unveiling the disturbing trend that US businesses may be getting worse at disaster preparedness, not better. Alternatively, senior executives may be more aware of what good disaster preparedness ‘looks like’ than they have been previously.

Pandemic preparedness
The survey also exposed doubts about how well businesses understand pandemic ‘flu preparedness planning. Forty two percent of respondents indicate that their disaster recovery plans would not work if there should be a ‘flu pandemic.
Only one in four respondent companies (26 percent) has a formal ‘flu pandemic preparedness plan in place to protect their workforce and business in the event of a pandemic. Even more concerning was the finding that e-mail and telecommunications are the two systems that most frequently experience unplanned disruptions as a result of a cyber attack, power failure or other disaster (53 percent and 46 percent respectively.) Yet 79 percent of respondents believe their technology systems are sufficiently set up to ensure continuous access to business critical data should their staff be dispersed due to a ‘flu pandemic.

"According to the Federal Government's National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, it is predicted that organizations could face 40 to 50 percent absentee rates during an avian flu pandemic and the recent survey results show businesses are still not doing enough in their preparations," said David Palermo, vice president of marketing at SunGard Availability Services. "A ‘flu pandemic is precisely when effective e-mail and telecommunications systems will need to be available to keep a dispersed workforce connected so businesses can keep on running - and organizations need to have their ‘flu pandemic plans in place, now."

Disconnects between businesses, customers and partners
Another aspect unearthed by the survey was the alarming disconnect about acceptable windows of downtime between a business and its customers and partners. Thirty five percent of the senior executives polled claimed their organizations can withstand eight to 24 hours of unplanned downtime before their business is affected through either lost revenue, customer satisfaction or lost productivity. Yet 51 percent of them also state customers and partners will only tolerate two hours or less of unplanned downtime.

Additionally, almost 40 percent of respondents admit their companies are not at all, or not very, rigorous at conducting due diligence of partners' abilities to ensure access to business critical information. This approach can increase the risk of a partner's downtime impacting a company's business operations.

Other survey highlights:
* 95 percent of respondents overwhelmingly agree the tolerance for business systems downtime has narrowed, 28 percent cannot tolerate less than one hour of unplanned downtime.

* 42 percent have increased spending to reduce the risk of loss of access to business critical data during a disaster while the remaining respondents' budgets have mostly stayed the same, compared to one year ago.

* 40 percent of respondents cite financial restrictions as the chief barrier that hinders them from making uninterrupted information availability, business continuity and disaster recovery planning a priority; 46 percent say other priorities take precedent.

* 40 percent of respondents indicated order entry or customer service systems are where downtime is least tolerated. By comparison, only 2 percent mentioned quality assurance or regulatory compliance systems.

www.availability.sungard.com

•Date: 29th August 2006• Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC statistics
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