Disaster Recovery Journal- Volume 18, Issue 3 - Summer 2005 Issue

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Summer 2005 Index

DISASTER RECOVERY
JOURNAL

P. O. Box 510110
St. Louis, MO 63151
(314) 894-0276
Fax: (314) 894-7474
Internet www.drj.com
E-mail drj@drj.com

EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jon Seals
jon@drj.com

SENIOR EDITOR
Janette Ballman
janette@drj.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Ed Pearce, CBCP
ed@drj.com

ASSISTANT EDITOR
Pamela Clifton
pamelaclifton@hotmail.com

COPY EDITORS
Jim Hammill, CBCP
Richard Sandhofer
richards@drj.com

ADVERTISING
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com

_____________

Corporate

President/CEO
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com

Vice President
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com

CONFERENCE COORDINATOR
Patti Fitzgerald, CBCP
patti@drj.com

CONFERENCE REGISTRAR
Merce Knese
mercedes@drj.com

CIRCULATION
Laura Baugh
laurab@drj.com

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
Mike Croy, Forsythe
Jeff Dato, MBCP, KPMG
John Jackson
Edward S. Devlin, E.S. Devlin & Associates
James Hammill, CBCP, JMH Consulting Inc.
Pat McAnally, SunGard Availability Services
Brian Turley, Strohl Systems
Belinda Wilson, Hewlett-Packard

INTERNATIONAL
CONTACTS
England: Thom Hetherington
Business Continuity
Phone: 0161-237-1007
thomh@tempus.demon.co.uk
Japan: Shinji Hosotsubo
Crisis Management and Preparedness Organization
Phone: 03-3519-6270
fax: 03-3519-6255
hosotsubo@cmpo.org
Brazil: José Carlos Ferreira
Disaster Recovery Mercosul
Phone and fax: 011-3666-9506
jocaff@uol.com.br

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If Not Now ... When?

By JOHN B. COPENHAVER, CBCP

I have been asked been asked by my friends at the Disaster Recovery Journal to write this piece on the occasion of being appointed the first full-time chief executive officer of DRI International, an honor conferred upon me by the DRI International Board of Directors on May 1 of this year.
After significant reflection on what I would like to say in this column, it seems appropriate to communicate a growing sense of both pride in the progress we as an industry have made in the last 10 years, and urgency that, having come this far, we now stand on the brink of having to fulfill our promise sooner rather than later.
I believe that if we do not now take the “leap forward” we’ve been hoping to see for the last several years, we as an industry will likely experience a rapid drop in influence that will result from others taking our leadership position and relegating us to the “afterthought” status we have fought against for so long.
We have come far indeed in the years since “disaster recovery” was the province of the tribe of “computer people,” that grouping of strange beings able to communicate in mysterious “programmer” languages that ordinary humans could not begin to fathom.
Now we are “business continuity professionals,” even “emergency/crisis managers” looked upon to prepare our respective employers against calamities and orchestrate the post-event chaos into a dance of speedy recovery.
Our progress has been amazing indeed – but what are the next steps for us in this evolutionary adventure? What is our vision of the future, our future, as we look down the road into the next few years?
The need for our services is at an all-time high as businesses and government agencies alike face the increasing scrutiny of those they serve for evidence of preparedness, readiness against what often seems to be an increasingly dangerous environment. Regulations continue to be passed to ensure that key elements of the private sector have business continuity plans in place. The term “BCP” is now heard in virtually every industrialized nation on earth, and the trend does not show signs of abating any time soon. Laissez les bon temps roulez – let the good times roll, right?
Not necessarily. With increasing importance comes increasing scrutiny, and increasing accountability. What are we as an industry doing to move forward at this point, to come together, to speak with one clear voice and embrace the participation and cooperation of related disciplines such as security and crisis management?
Perhaps more importantly, what is likely to happen if we do not take these steps, and we go further down the path of “turf wars” and silo-building?
The reality of our situation is that very few foreseeable events can or will focus the attention of the world on “business continuity,” whereas another major terrorist attack inside our borders will bring issues of security once again to the front of the minds of this country’s decision makers – quite possibly at our expense.
We as business continuity professionals do not have a “Department of Homeland Continuity,” no matter how critical we perceive the need for these capabilities to be. In short, we must act soon – as soon as we can – to come together as an industry, to reach out to our brothers and sisters in emergency management, security, crisis management and emergency response, and together create the vision of true community preparedness. Prevention and preparedness must be blended together to establish “readiness,” and we as a global community must establish true readiness as a priority.
The future is ours, if we reach out for it – and my pledge to you is that DRI International will be working with you to make this future a bright one for our industry.

John B. Copenhaver, CBPC, is the president and chief executive officer of DRI International. Copenhaver was appointed by President Bill Clinton as director of FEMA’s Region IV office in 1997, and served in that capacity until 2001.