Budgeting for Disaster Recovery

One area of great importance to disaster recovery planners that has received very little attention is the question of how much to spend on the disaster recovery planning (DRP) effort. Through application of a “worst case” risk analysis process corporate officers can be effectively “sold” on the need for effective DRP, but what guidelines can… Continue reading Budgeting for Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery and Risk Avoidance/Acceptance

It is good news that many organizations are jumping on the disaster recovery bandwagon. Information security and disaster recovery practitioners have clearly scored some impressive successes. Management has become more aware of the need and has begun to allocate funds for security measures that we all knew to be important but found more difficult to… Continue reading Disaster Recovery and Risk Avoidance/Acceptance

In Three out of Four Cases: Business Interruption Can Be Fatal

In today’s competitive environment, a business must achieve continual improvement just to stay even in the market place. Any interruption in one’s presence in the market place is devastating. It is, therefore, incumbent upon management to respond immediately to any catastrophic event which interrupts the business and restore its operation as quickly as possible. Subsequent… Continue reading In Three out of Four Cases: Business Interruption Can Be Fatal

The Post-Incident Review Process: Can you correct the Weakness?

Post-incident review (PIR) is an evaluation of incident response used to identify and correct weaknesses, as well as determine strengths and promulgate them. PIRs are normally used to support program revision. Despite its importance, PIR is one of the most neglected components of disaster recovery planning. Imagine you have just survived a natural disaster. After… Continue reading The Post-Incident Review Process: Can you correct the Weakness?

Business Interruption Risk Assessment: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Effective contingency planning and disaster recovery coordination require expertise in all aspects of disaster management, including avoidance and recovery. It is too late to plan an effective response after a disaster has struck and significant downtime has been incurred. The resulting outage from such a disaster can have serious effects on the viability of a… Continue reading Business Interruption Risk Assessment: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

Is Your Business Ready For Disaster?

California businesses have numerous disasters every day. With Earthquakes, Flooding, Hazardous Material Accidents, High Winds, Power Outages, and the occasional Structural Collapse due to metal fatigue. Who knows when such an incident will happen in YOUR VICINITY? This may cause damage and destruction to your company, serious injuries to your employees, shutdown your business operations,… Continue reading Is Your Business Ready For Disaster?

Quantitative Risk Assessment

The enlightened businessman prepares plans to deal with emergencies. He knows that being ready to deal with disasters–both natural and human-made–can make the critical difference to the bottom line should disaster strike. Detailed emergency planning is particularly important for those businesses that: Are just-in-time suppliers, in particular those that are liable to incur large penalty… Continue reading Quantitative Risk Assessment

Risk Analysis Techniques

The risk analysis process provides the foundation for the entire recovery planning effort There may be some terminology and definition differences related to risk analysis, risk assessment and business impact analysis. Although several definitions are possible and can overlap, for purposes of this article, please consider the following definitions: A risk analysis involves identifying the… Continue reading Risk Analysis Techniques

Quantifying a Business Impact Analysis

All too often, presentations on how to perform a ‘business impact analysis’ fall short on the ‘analysis’ component of the project. There have been scores of wonderful presentations on ‘risk analysis’ questionnaires, describing which areas should be surveyed, with in depth discussions on what to look for, but all lacking substance on how to proceed… Continue reading Quantifying a Business Impact Analysis