Gartner findings

Having current and complete information during a crisis is vital for quick and effective response and recovery. However, a common complaint of many business continuity managers is that business continuity management (BCM) plans are outdated because they haven't been updated to account for current business availability needs, or they are stored in multiple places throughout the enterprise, making it hard to keep them current without a strong document management process. Having an Enterprise wide BCM plan management strategy assisted by automation can ensure that BCM plans are current, viable and available during a crisis.

Key Findings

• Many organisations know that their BCM plans are outdated and are concerned that they won't be able to recover from a disaster if these plans are used.
• The complexity of the enterprise and the interrelatedness of information needed for response and recovery efforts further challenge successful recovery, and therefore, the long-term viability of the enterprise.
• Too few organisations are planning for an outage time frame longer than seven days.
• Automation can assist in developing, maintaining and exercising BCM plans according to business needs.

Recommendations

• Develop a distributed, collaborative BCM organisational model.
• Communicate the business value of BCM.
• Build BCM plan management into the business/project life cycle.
• Develop a structured framework of plans.
• Keep plans relevant to the purpose.