A global survey by HP predicts that business continuity and availability solutions spending will increase during 2007. The survey found that more than 80 percent of IT decision-makers at both large and medium-size businesses view business continuity and availability as an increased priority for 2007 and ‘key to sharpening their competitive business edge worldwide’.

Approximately four out of five managers and executives responsible for business continuity and availability, including chief information officers, IT directors and IT managers, indicate that the area will see an increase in spending this year as compared to 2006.

The survey, commissioned by HP and conducted by GCR Custom Research, further revealed that investments in disaster-tolerant solutions, backup and recovery efforts, security and improved IT service management offerings will also increase in 2007, with nine out of 10 decision-makers reporting higher planned spending.

In addition, the ability to meet competitive pressures, maintain uptime, prepare for pandemic outbreaks and improve regulatory compliance ranked as significantly higher priorities in 2007 than in 2006.

Overall, the results mark a shift in strategy for many companies, which have historically taken a reactive approach to recovering from unplanned downtime or disasters, to longer term business continuity planning.

“In today’s global marketplace, any amount of downtime can be devastating, if not terminal, to a business,” said John Bennett, worldwide director, Business Continuity and Availability Solutions, HP. “Research shows that IT decision makers see a dramatic return on investment as a result of building a sound, long-term, holistic business continuity plan, which will ultimately reduce the impact of internal or external threats.”

Nearly one in five enterprises surveyed (18 percent) and nearly one in three medium-size businesses surveyed (31 percent) lack a business continuity plan. The most common obstacles for the implementation of business continuity and availability solutions, based on survey results, range from the conceptual – such as securing financial support, overcoming lack of manager support and low corporate priority – to the tactical: critical problems that lie in the nuts and bolts of planning and implementation.

While the survey shows an increased awareness of and need for business continuity, availability and disaster-recovery solutions, IT organizations worldwide face significant challenges to implementing a sound plan.

According to survey participants, top obstacles include a lack of an agreed technology solution (55 percent), not enough time to implement (49 percent) a lack of data to create a true business case for implementation (34 percent) and inexperienced internal resources (59 percent).

More than 564 IT decision makers worldwide responded to survey questions assessing their business continuity, availability and disaster-recovery plans and the technologies being used to implement those plans. Sixty-two percent of the respondents represented companies with more than $100 million in annual revenue from industries that include manufacturing, healthcare, education and financial services. Forty-eight percent of respondents represented medium-size companies with 100 - 999 employees.

www.hp.com/go/continuityandavailability

Continuity Central has obtained a detailed breakdown of the survey from HP and a more comprehensive report will follow at a later date.

•Date: 27th March 2007 • Region: World •Type: Article •Topic: BC markets
Rate this article or make a comment - click here