The recent floods in the North of England and elsewhere
will cost businesses up to £170m in IT damage. Among small and
medium-sized enterprises especially, inadequate insurance, an
absence of back-up systems, and a lack of business continuity
planning paint a sorry picture.
SMEs do not exist in isolation, and it is vital that the
business continuity best practices that are becoming embedded in
larger companies are extended to smaller organisations.
A 2006 survey by the London Chambers of Commerce found that only
30% of firms in the capital had updated their contingency plans in
the light of avian flu, but since then, the Financial Sector
Continuity website, representing the Treasury, the Bank of England
and the Financial Services Authority, has continued to report
progress in preparedness. Similarly heartening are reports from
analyst firm Forrester that 24% of large firms and 15% of SMEs
consider disaster recovery to be a top priority.
The threat of an avian flu pandemic may be relayed in the media
more mutedly now than a year or two ago, but it cannot be
discounted. And last month's terrorist attacks in Glasgow and
London have served to remind us of an ideologically-driven threat
to business and civil continuity.
No one would have credited the notion that the city of Sheffield
would be underwater during the month of June 2007. Expect the
unexpected is a moral to be drawn there.
Establishing remote working as a business norm can be a key
strategy in gearing up for extreme weather, an outbreak of avian
flu, or a terrorist attack. There are potential productivity gains
in providing staff with remote access to systems, but it also
enables a business to continue to serve its customers when disaster
strikes - a goal that will get the attention of board-level
management.
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