Business Continuity & Data Recovery
August 2, 2006
Considering the severe
consequences of data loss, it is hard
to believe that many businesses do
not do more to protect their data.
Gartner studies indicate fewer than
25 percent of Global 2000 enterprises
have invested in comprehensive
business continuity management.
Further, only 50 percent have fully
tested disaster recovery plans. That's
a very high-risk situation for many,
companies. As the volume of
business data grows daily so does the
risk inherent in doing without a data
protection plan.
Insurance companies, as well as
regulators, are scrutinizing their
clients' data protection policies.
Those firms whose data is deemed at
higher risk will pay higher
premiums, since loss of data
translates into huge business losses.
To mitigate their own risk,
companies should consider suppliers'
data protection policies as well. If a
supplier loses data, those who are
closely linked could incur losses.
Lost Data Means Lost Business
Data protection is, first and
foremost, a business issue that
demands a business solution. It is a
component of business continuity, an
umbrella term that encompasses all
the activities involved in planning for
and recovery from external and
internal events.
The foundation for data protection
is prioritizing data according to its
value and providing an appropriate
level of protection. Two key metrics
describe the priority assigned to
different classes of data: RTO and
RPO. RTO stands for Recovery Time
Objective, the amount of time (in
hours or days) a business can afford
to be down in the event of an outage.
RPO stands for Recovery Point
Objective, the age of the data you can
restore to after an outage.
Understanding RTO and RPO
enables a business to balance the
amount of down-time it can endure
with the amount of data loss it can
endure. The challenge is to balance
RTO and RPO with the costs of
attaining them. Shorter recovery
times and recovery points ranslate
into higher costs.
For example, a financial services
firm calculated it earned revenues of
US$500,000 per hour. The company
developed a data protection solution
that would prevent losses of US$1
million. Therefore, it chose a solution
with a two-hour RTO (US$500,000
per hour x 2 hours).
A business continuity & data
recovery program can not overcome
every possible risk a business will
encounter but it can mitigate the
effects of the most common
occurrences. Companies must plan
for rapid recovery following data loss
and downtime due to human error,
sabotage, even acts of nature such as
HURRICANES.
They must be in compliance with
applicable regulations and for many
industries that means a data recovery
program must be in place. In
addition, CEOs and boards must
protect themselves from liabilities
resulting from data loss. Finally, a
solid data recovery program should
be a standard business practice, one
to be implemented as soon as
possible.
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(JNAP) is a world-class carrier
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- JNAP |
