You can imagine the movie advertisements: A sea of flames engulfs telco switch… phones dead… even beepers bite the dust… its… The Telco Switching Center Disaster. Somehow, its difficult to believe that even an all-star cast could make it a box-office hit. The fact is, the cause of most computer room disasters is far more… Continue reading Up and Running: How to Ensure Disaster Recovery

It was a Wednesday night 1:35 AM when the unthinkable happened. A violent tornado, with winds gusting up to l00 mph, tore through the city of Kent, Ohio. This is where our largest Land O’ Lakes spreads plant is located, and it was virtually destroyed. I arrived at the plant around 5:30 AM, only to… Continue reading Business Plans to Recover at Multi-Billion Dollar – Land O Lakes, Inc.

A bank’s contingency planning effort has one main goal: to get back to “business as usual” as quickly as possible, ideally within two days after a disaster. Quick recovery of processing capability may now be more difficult and take longer than when your bank’s recovery strategies were first approved by the board of directors. In… Continue reading Contingency Planning Strategy

The Contingency Planner, a title that varies throughout the business world (Disaster Recovery Coordinator, Contingency Coordinator, etc.), is one of the newest positions in both the Corporate and IS organizational structures. Emergency Planners have been around for a long time; however, not many graced the halls of large corporations until the early 1980’s. Even today,… Continue reading The Contingency Planner

We don’t have to worry about anything, nothing can happen to us here.” “We’ve never had any problems before.” “Our other locations can back us up.” “We don’t need our computer, we’ll just go back to our manual system.” “ Insurance will cover everything.” Sound familiar? You only need to watch the news or read… Continue reading Justifying Contingency Plans

The Plan is done. All significant functional areas have been addressed and each team has a complete plan of their own, fully documented. Ah h h h…now you can sit back and relax, right? Wrong! You have only just begun, as the song says. Your business recovery plan must mirror your operational organization at all… Continue reading Is Your Recovery Plan Done?

Business continuity planning is a strategically important issue at Bankers Trust Company (BTCo), a multi-billion dollar global merchant bank headquartered in New York City. Bankers Trust has a highly decentralized business structure, with its main offices in the New York metropolitan area, London, Australia, and the Far East. And although business units operate autonomously, the… Continue reading World Class Business Continuity Planning at Bankers Trust Company

Business Contingency Planning continually confronts the unlikelihood of a disaster. An interruption could be something related to a winter storm, the loss of electricity to the general area, or the complete and inaccessibility of a facility for an extended period of time. The cause of the interruption doesn’t matter, but I assert being capable of… Continue reading Business Contingency Planning Is…

Disaster recovery planning can be expensive. For the most basic data center recovery plan, monies must be allocated for personnel (full or part time), alternate sites, network recovery and offsite storage. Further increasing the cost of recovery is the fact that the traditional role of disaster recovery planning has now evolved into corporate contingency planning.… Continue reading Justifying the Contingency Plan

Audits may be the bane of management, but in disaster recovery auditors become key players in the success of the plan. Their insight may be invaluable in identifying missing pieces or weak links. Rather than dread the experience, consider the audit as a chance to forge a working relationship with someone who can give you… Continue reading Are You Prepared for an Audit? Evaluating Your Disaster Recovery Plan