Communication and funding are the biggest challenges to business continuity

Microsoft, Frontier Technology and Double-Take Software recently held a round table seminar focused on business continuity. The aim of the meeting was to assess firms’ pressing business continuity issues, on both an ongoing basis but also in the light of the recent recession and coalition budget cuts.

The seminar was attended by a mixture of legal, financial, media and public sector organizations. All of the delegates were senior managers from IT, regulatory and business continuity backgrounds. Despite their differing disciplines, all agreed that their biggest business continuity issues were communication and getting buy-in and funding from the business. Business continuity has no instant return on investment and is extremely difficult to measure which means that it is often pushed into the background in favour of fee earning activities.

Frank Fischer from Frontier Technology provided the following advice: “Firms need to start looking at business continuity as an insurance policy. We insure our homes and cars without a second thought; it seems crazy not to insure our businesses.”

Delegates agreed that getting the correct technology in place was the easy part; communicating with staff members on how to use IT in the face of a business disaster is much more difficult. In most firms there is a shortfall between management’s expectations and what IT has provisioned.
Maria João Freitas, business continuity analyst, ITV, emphasised the importance of implementing business continuity management. She felt that the BS 25999 guidelines provide vital advice when looking at the business as a whole and making sure that the roles, responsibilities and strategies are clear.

Delegates generally felt that the guidelines helped with senior management take-up, giving them something tangible to work towards. However, even in firms where business continuity is high on the agenda, spending is still limited.

The next business continuity seminar will be held on the 30th September 2010. Please visit www.frontiertechnology.co.uk

•Date: 14th July 2010 • Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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