In my experience, disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) are either done very well or very poorly. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. Most big organizations have redundant data centers, replicated databases, failover servers, and a detailed business continuity plan. Smaller organizations tend to have a few point solutions for DR but do not (or are unable to) invest in alternate data centers and do not have failover solutions in place. If we think in terms of the insurance world, major carriers will have effectively managed DR and BC plans and procedures. Agencies, GMAs, and regional carriers probably will struggle to get back on their feet after a real data disaster.

Social networking and the whole Web 2.0 phenomena have changed the way we do many things. YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and ubiquitous Web-enabled smart phones now are part of every information worker's life. Maybe we should embrace some of these things when we are planning for disaster recovery.

What We've Got Here Is Failure To Communicate