Data Protection 360

UK companies getting with the plan

To follow up on the survey I discussed yesterday, today I look over the pond to the UK, and find similar trends in business continuity preparedness. The CMI 2009 Business Continuity management report, created with the support of the Cabinet Office, shows that just over half of UK organizations have a business continuity plan. At 52 percent, this is the highest level noted in the history of the survey. Curiously though, business continuity has fallen in terms of ranked importance, with 64 percent of managers regarding it as important, compared to 76 percent last year.

A few other highlights of the survey also show that identifying risk shows increased importance, and the two greatest concerns are electronic attack, and human disease. The most common disruption faced by respondents was loss of IT, while other disruptions resulted from extreme weather, loss of people, loss of telecommunications, and utility outages.

A positive trend was also seen by two thirds of respondents, who rehearse their business continuity plans on a regular basis. The rehearsals have been shown to be quite effective and useful, since business continuity plans would otherwise languish and get out of date. Seventy five percent of respondents said that their rehearsals had brought shortcomings in the plan to light.

Including a plan for remote working is always an important part of business continuity planning, and 53 percent of respondents said that they would be able to continue operating remotely in an emergency.

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