Employees Lack Disaster Recovery Awareness
New research unveiled at Infosecurity 2008 in London reveals that three quarters of UK employees do not understand or even know their company’s business continuity plan in event of a disaster or disruption, whilst, equally worryingly, 21% of big businesses in the UK do not have detailed business continuity plans in place.
The research, commissioned by BT Global Services, clearly shows that whilst threats such as flooding, IT disasters and terrorism continue to dominate the news, there is a major oversight on the part of many large organizations in failing to fully understand the business risks associated with IT downtime.
At the same time, the study revealed that business continuity accountability, whilst still resting in to a large degree within IT (27% CEO, 63% CIO/IT Director/CTO), is rising up the corporate ladder. Indeed the overall leadership team within businesses are increasingly involved in the key economic decisions surrounding business continuity (49% CEO/ Board/Director, 36% CIO/IT Director/CTO).
A spokesperson said “The research shows that many business leadership teams are now taking notice of the business continuity issue. That is an important development because keeping the business running, come what may, has to be a key board-level concern not just one of IT. That said, the alignment between aspiration, accountability and decision making still requires significant attention in many organizations. Likewise organizations that do not possess detailed business continuity plans need to act now.”