U.S. Companies Unprepared For Disaster, Study Shows recovery. It doesn’t have to take a terrorist attack or even a major natural disaster such as a hurricane or tornado to cause trouble. Power failures have been the mostfrequent culprit behind the loss of information and productivity in the U.S.—accounting for about 33 percent of such difficulties. A growing problem, the cause of about one in four disruptions, is (NAPSA)—One of the most chilling statistics to anyone who uses an ATM or anyother technology-dependentservice is how woefully unprepared many businesses apparently are to handle disasters. You'd think that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Northeast blackout of 2003, and the string of hurricanes that savaged Florida in 2004, businesses would’ve grasped the need for formalized disaster plans. You’d be wrong. According to a recent Harris Interactive survey, many Ameri- can companies still have prob- lems in several key areas of information-related disaster preparation. That could mean trouble for the company’s workers, customers and community. For example, if a hospital’s computer system doesn’t work, the ability to provide medical service is compromised. If a bank’s infor- mation infrastructure is down, ATM machines are useless. If a company isn’t properly prepared for a disaster, the organization could end up out of business, its workers unemployed. Yet, according to the survey, while more than half the companies in the country experienced a disruption in their technology ser- security breaches caused by Some companies have a plan to protect their information from natural and man-madedisasters. Otherslearn the hard way. vice in the last year, nearly a third hadn’t tested their systems to ensure access to critical informa- tion in over six months. More than half the executives surveyed admitted their companies didn’t discuss policies regarding access to business critical information “very often.” “If this topic isn’t discussed by a company’s top management group, how can they expect to effectively address this problem?” asked Jim Simmons, chief execu- tive officer of SunGard Availabil- ity Services, which is a leading provider of information availabil- ity services, including disaster viruses and hacking. Fortunately, companies of all sizes can take steps to protect their information. Thefirst step is to develop an information availability plan tailored specifically to the particular firm. The plan should identify the people, property and information systemscritical to the organization’s continued operation; define roles and responsibilities for all involved; identify relevant legal and regulatory issues and incorporate a way to train employees. “Above all else, companies must continually test and update their recovery plans,” said Simmons. “This is the only way to be sure that all of the bases have been covered.” For more tips and information, see www.availability.sungard.com.
