Six years ago,
just 30% of firms had corporate business continuity plans: today,
83% of the 273 US firms surveyed in a joint study by Deloitte &
Touche LLP and business continuity firm CPM have formal
plans.
“Companies realise that a temporary disruption can significantly
damage shareholder value and erode their customer base,” says Steve
Ross, director and business continuity director leader of Deloitte
& Touche’s security services and privacy practice.
“Today, recovery time objectives of core business functions are
measured in hours, not days. And even if they can withstand some
downtime, many companies cannot accept any data loss.”
Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II and other regulations have fuelled this
growth as much as terrorist threats, maintains the report. The
investment mirrors this commitment. Almost 30% of the respondents
allocated $1m to business continuity management – an 11% hike from
2004.
Business continuity analyst Datamation says 40% of firms that
don’t have a business continuity plan in place never recover from a
major disaster.
