Disaster planning goes beyond IT
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Specifically, Gartner analyst Roberta Witty emphasized that disaster planning requires such preparations as geographic dispersal of key executives, virtual work environments, and grief counseling programs.
In light of the Sept. 11 tragedies, business continuity has emerged as a major theme at this year's Gartner conference. A complete business continuity plan, said analysts, requires the consideration of human factors. Gartner's panel of business continuity experts talked about how businesses must reconsider locating executives, staff, as well as IT systems and departments to multiple locations.
Some of the organizations that faired best following the Sept. 11 disaster were various stock exchanges and trade boards. These organizations, Gartner noted, are subject to laws and regulations regarding the fault tolerance of their information systems.
Adequate preparation, according to Gartner, also requires having a manager of business continuity. This member of the IT management team must be familiar with all the laws regulating the company's business as well as all the procedures of the local emergency management organizations.
One lesson learned from the World Trade Center disaster, according to Gartner analyst Donna Scott, is that companies with most of their staff, systems, and executives in one location will fair the worst. Citing the fast resumption times of organizations that have redundant centers, the panel noted that "it's not a good idea to locate a redundant data center in the basement of the building across the street."
Scott suggested that companies have backup facilities and offices somewhere within 20 to 50 miles of the primary offices. "Any more," said Scott, "and you will have a transportation problem. Employees that survived won't be willing to go very far."
Scott acknowledged, however, that "a disaster like what happened at the WTC is different. There was really no way businesses could be prepared for such a complete loss of life, physical assets, communications systems, and transportation systems."
Gartner analyst Richard Hunter recommends striking a balance between distributed premises and what he calls "juice centers." According to Hunter, companies have to be careful not to cross the point of diminishing returns when pursuing a more geographically distributed approach. "Breaking up the company at departmental boundaries can make sense," according to Hunter. "But, in an effort to achieve more of a virtual working environment, breaking up workgroups where ongoing face-to-face contact is the juice that keeps things going isn't recommended." Suggesting that virtual office technologies such as video conferencing aren't there yet, Hunter said, "There is still no technology that provides the same juice of face-to-face contact."
Grief can have an extremely disruptive impact on any business emerging from a disaster, especially where loss of life is involved. "Having a grief counseling plan is equally important," according to Gartner's Witty.
Implementing many of these measures can add up to significant expense, analysts noted. But, Scott added, "the cheapest alternative to business continuity isn't always the best alternative."
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