Cost puts recovery systems on hold

Australasian companies simply don't have the finances to protect their business systems from disaster, a study shows.

The survey of 200 Australasian companies for US communication network specialist Avaya shows only 20 per cent of information technology managers have tested plans to maintain business operations in the event of a network outage, serious attack or natural disaster.

Financial constraints were cited by 54 per cent of managers as the main barrier to developing recovery plans, even though nearly half said their IT budgets increased during the previous year.

Peter Thorne, Avaya regional director of network-consulting services, said although most businesses identified disaster recovery as a priority, few had workable plans in place.

"It is not enough to say business continuity is important, you have to have a plan in place, test it, communicate it and resource it."

Thorne said disasters were not confined to possible events, but also included regular failures that could bring companies to a standstill.

The study showed 64 per cent of companies had suffered systems down-time in the previous month and 29 per cent had no idea what that cost the business.

Tony Jayne, general manager of Avaya's local partner, Agile New Zealand, said the study showed some companies had not taken disaster recovery seriously.

"The outlook I took ... was that a lot of the planning was done for compliance reasons, to be able to show a board, or company executives, that there was a business continuity plan in place," he said.

"That really only had lip service paid to it and the detail hadn't been followed through."

Jayne said companies could limit the costs of recovery systems by working in stages, focusing on elements such as email and telephony.

Insurance company IAG New Zealand began testing their disaster recovery plan more than a year ago.

Brenton Hall, IAG national sales support manager, said planning for disaster recovery required a shift in business culture.

New systems are designed with consideration to the recovery plan, and simulated disasters test the company's ability to cope with the loss of buildings, network and personnel.

Hall said if the company lost its Auckland call centre, between 70 and 80 per cent of the nearly 300-member workforce could be working in other locations within hours.

"If we say we're in the risk game and we haven't planned around how we're going to manage risks to our business, that would be a huge failing ... and people would see it that way."

Companies with more than 200 employees were randomly selected for the study conducted by Galaxy Research on behalf of Avaya.