In the Dark

Businesses resist deploying disaster recovery (DR) plans and business continuity (BC) strategies, believing 'it won't happen to us'. There's an all-too-common misconception that DR and BC are only necessary in countries affected by adverse weather phenomena such as tsunamis, floods and hurricanes. South Africa might be known for its sunny skies, but we're not immune to natural disasters, as seen by the earthquake and tornado that hit last year.

"Unfortunately, such events only shake people for a short while," says UCS Solutions' business development manager Kate Queiroz. "Certainly not long enough for businesses to seriously consider DR and BC. There always seem to be other things that are more important, so they put it off indefinitely."

Load-shedding is expected to continue for at least the next two years, causing ongoing intermittent disruption to business operations. "Power outages are one of the leading culprits of data loss. Given the recent spate of load-shedding and the high degree of probability that this situation will continue for the foreseeable future, the need for adequate backup, BC and DR solutions has never been clearer," says Drive Control Corporation software division manager Fred Mitchell.

He stresses that simply doing backups is not enough - how and when backups are done, and where things are stored, must be carefully considered and form part of a larger plan. "Too often, a company will do backups to CDs and leave them in the office building. Onsite backups are fine, but there has to be a duplicate offsite version as well. Keeping backups in two different locations reduces the chances of data loss if something was to happen at the primary location, like a theft or a fire," he says.

Hardware can be replaced, he points out, but data can't. "If data is completely lost, business operations would be irreparably affected."

This is especially true of smaller companies that don't have the monetary resources to survive a business disaster. "Larger companies might still be able to recover financially, but the smaller guys will close their doors. Some might limp along for a while, but most of the time it ends a business," Queiroz says.

A BC plan creates a forward-thinking organisation.

Michael Davies, CEO, ContinuitySA

Reputational loss is a serious threat for larger companies, one that no amount of money can counter. ContinuitySA's CEO Michael Davies recalls BlackBerry's prolonged service outage in 2011. "BlackBerry still hasn't really recovered from that. Their customers changed over to other devices and service providers. Social media platforms can make reputational losses especially difficult to recover from," he says.

Given the significant negative impact insufficient BC and DR planning can have on a company, why are so many still complacent? Around 40% of businesses have no DR or BC plans in place, and of those, 78% don't foresee implementing one in future. This is according to the 2014 Metrofile Information and Records Management Trends Index, which also revealed that in the last 12 months, as much as two-thirds of local businesses have been affected by business interruption, including such issues as power outages, natural disasters and public unrest.

"It comes down to budget," says Davies. "In order to survive the economic meltdown, people pushed BC and DR out of their budgets, which is ironic, because they're needed to ensure business survival."

Another deterrent to adoption is the lack of local legislation enforcing BC and DR. "If regulated, companies will be forced to incorporate BC and DR into their business strategies," he says.

Power outages are one of the leading culprits of data loss.

Fred Mitchell, software division manager, DCC

Steve Kokol, Sungard AS VP of internal sales, believes whether or not regulations to BC planning exist, businesses should implement it anyway - it's the right thing to do. "BC is common sense," he states. "Organisations should have BC plans in place to make sure they continue to thrive."

Companies have to understand BC is not an IT function - it covers all business aspects and processes. "BC addresses how you function before, during and after a disaster. It involves your critical systems, data, and people," says Albe Gouws, GM for technical services at Attix5. "This in-depth risk assessment needs to start at board level, and become a part of the corporate culture."

Kokol believes collaboration plays a very important role in BC within an organisation. "When putting together a BC plan, it's vital that all departments are involved and provide necessary input. Once a culture of BC is formed internally, people will get more involved in spreading awareness and enforcing adoption."

Having a BC plan in place is not all hard work and no reward. In fact, there are several benefits, as Davies explains. "A BC plan creates a forward-thinking organisation - the people learn a great deal about themselves, the company, its processes, and how everything fits together."

A BC plan instils confidence in both the organisation's people and its clients. Its people will feel secure in that, in the event of a disruption, they know what to do. Clients will be impressed that their personal information is safeguarded. Davies stresses the importance of having developed BC plans in place because the failure of a company affects so much more than its immediate shareholders. It affects the community in which it operates, in terms of the other stakeholders such as employees, suppliers and other indirectly involved parties.

"Having a solid BC plan in place means you'll be able to handle various bumps in the road," Davies says. "And often you won't even realise you had a disruption at all."