Hardware failure was the top disruption threat to UK
business operations in 2007, according to a report bySungard Availability
Services.
The report, based on an analysis of disaster recovery
invocations by Sungard's customers, showed that despite widespread
flooding last year, hardware failure remained the biggest
threat (35%), followed by power related disruptions (22%).
Although flood-related invocations of customers' disaster
recovery (DR) plans doubled in 2007 from the year before, flooding
came in third place, accounting for only 12% of DR plans being
used.
Keith Tilley, executive vice-president for UK and Europe at
Sungard, said the fact that hardware failure remained the top
reason for companies using DR plans for the second year in a row,
despite being relatively straightforward to plan around, showed
many businesses were still not considering information availability
at the highest levels.
"Protecting an organisation's most critical information is an
important duty of directors," he said.
Russell Price,
Continuity
Forum chairman, said the reason that responsibility had to
reside with the chief executive and the board was that they were
responsible to the stakeholders in the business.
"They are the custodians of the company's integrity - they are
the ones who will have to face the consequences if they do not
deliver, and they are the ones who can empower the rest of the
organisation to get business continuity effectively embedded in the
organisation," he said.