Disaster Recovery Journal

Lately there has been some discussion among people outside of our industry about priorities and where disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) fall in this faltering economy. In fact, some have proposed to back-burner BC activities. Are they right? Probably not!

With the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, disaster, it is time to take stock of what has happened in business continuity since that day. The industry had to change the way we think, the way we plan and the way we prepare, and we did.

If we only look at the events of 2010, only six months in, we have suffered one catastrophic flood, the great Nashville flood and we are in the midst of the worst oil spill in the history of our country. Granted, one of these events could not be predicted or controlled. Mother Nature has a will of her own. But, questions remain about the oil spill.

So things are fairly normal in our world. We still have unexpected events like earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and power outages that people like us prepare for on a daily basis. DR and BC professionals have continuously preached the gospel of planning for the unexpected and react with a plan. Yes, they still need us!

A major part of our job is selling, or at least convincing people with a wide variety of priorities, that DR and BC must be an integral part of any organization.

Planning for a damaging event requires information about like events of the past, or at the very least, information about events with similar consequences. As we all know, history repeats itself.

If an organization doesn’t prepare, they may be doomed to a protracted process costing a fortune and maybe the company’s survival. Some people say times have changed. And yet, they haven’t. By the way, they are predicting seven major hurricanes this year. One can image what a Category 2 or 3 hurricane would do with the oil slick in the gulf. It would be a catastrophe of major proportions. Yes, they still need us!

In our effort to continually gain corporate support for our profession, for the first time we are including in this issue of DRJ the Executive Guide to Business Continuity. This special report summarizes why every executive should concern themselves with business continuity and justifies that concern. It illustrates why BC should be incorporated into the subculture of every organization.

In an earlier publication I mentioned retiring from active participation in the management of DRJ. Bob Arnold has the reins but I will periodically write an article in the magazine that I believe may be of interest to our readers.

DRJ Fall 2010 in San Diego is rapidly approaching. Our conference theme is “Conquering The Tough Challenges.” Let us help you with those challenges by joining us in September for the No. 1 conference in the industry. If you would like a brochure, visit our Web site at www.drj.com. Register early because we already have more than 439 people registered. See you in San Diego!