More than a fifth of UK businesses do not have
detailedbusiness continuityplans, according
to IDC research.
The research firm said this indicated a major oversight by some
major organisations to understand the risks associated with IT
downtime.
The research, commissioned by
BT Global Services, also found that while in most companies
(63%) responsibility for business continuity still lay with IT, it
was rising up the corporate ladder.
Almost half of UK respondents (49%) said the overall business
leadership team were becoming increasingly involved in decisions
relating to business continuity.
Ed Cordin, EMEA regional consulting director for IDC, said,
"Many business leadership teams are now taking notice of business
continuity, which is an important development because keeping the
business running has to be a key board-level concern, not just
IT."
The IDC report said that despite the gloomy economic outlook,
37% of UK companies said they intended to increase business
continuity spending in 2008.
Ray Stanton, global head of business continuity at BT Global
services, said it was interesting to see how many businesses
planned to increase business continuity spending, but the right
investments would help build customer confidence as well as protect
against threats.