CeBIT: e-Govt backup needs more work?

The federal government has more work to do in ensuring business continuity within the e-government arena, according to Ann Steward, Australian government chief information officer.

Steward, speaking at the e-Government Forum at CeBIT today, said business continuity was not new to government but it had to "step up in that regard". She believes much has been achieved but more needs to be done.

"We in government understand the need to keep our services up and running ... particularly as we put more and more of our services in the online space," she said.

What the government needs to do is focus on the system as a whole, according to Steward. "These are Australian customers and businesses and we need to move away from stovepipe considerations ... and what we need to do to support those systems [in the event of a disaster]."

Steward believes fallback arrangements have to be understood as well. "If we can't do this how can we operate?"

For Steward that means: "What is the likelihood of a disaster occurring and what do we do when it happens?"

She also touched on the importance of incident reporting and letting others benefit from the information.

The government CIO left attendees with a warning: "Business continuity is critical -- please make sure you are on top of it in your own environment."