The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center were a dramatic test of the business continuity management programs of some of New Yorks leading financial services firms. Most business continuity strategies never envisioned a disruptive event of the nature, scope, or duration of what took place on September 11.
Deloitte & Touche was one of the firms directly affected by the attacksits New York office was located across the street from the World Trade Center. That office is now closed with more than 3,000 employees displaced and working out of temporary facilities around New York.
In a TechDEC session titled, Beating Murphys Law: Disaster Planning and Recovery That Can Save Your Business, Brian Lane, a partner in Deloitte & Touches enterprise risk services division, will distill some of the lessons learned from September 11 and other economic, social, technological, and geocentric events that have been converging over the past decade, all of which pose threats to the continuity of business operations.
An important lesson from September 11, according to Lane, is that todays business environment is riskier and less predictable than ever before. It requires a new approach focused on optimizing the availability of all mission-critical assetspeople, processes, data, technology, and facilitieswhether addressing disaster situations or limiting downtime in the normal course of business. The elements for this new approach to business continuity management were detailed in a March 2002 report by Deloitte & Touche titled, Recovery PlanningA New Paradigm for Business, and will be highlighted during Lanes program.
The Deloitte report says the new approach to business continuity management maintains that people issues are paramount. It states, Many firms found that they were not adequately prepared to provide alternative offices, telephone lines, and computers to displaced employees. Employers quickly learned that while they might have had redundant data systems, the people who ran the systems, made business decisions, or maintained customer relationships could not be duplicated. Given this experience, a number of banks in the UK have decided to lease contingency office space located outside central cities and separate from their backup data centers.
Another example of this approach concerns the testing of systems. Deloittes report notes, Some firms found that their backup data centers lacked real-time data and had problems communicating smoothly with the backup data centers of other firms. As a solution, the report suggests frequent testing of business continuity plans is essential and must include the other firms and exchanges with which the company needs to communicate.
Says Lane: Earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist attacks, fires, computer viruses, and other disastrous events can interrupt business operations at any time. However, customers expect uninterrupted serviceeven when disaster strikes.
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Beating Murphys Law: Disaster and Recovery That Can SaveYour Business
A TechDEC Session
Friday, September 13
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