29pc of Irish government departments have no business continuity strategy in place and have no plans to implement any in the foreseeable future, according to the latest study by iReach on behalf of Hewlett Packard.
A business continuity strategy involves making provisions for what is becoming an organisation’s most critical asset: data.
Whether archiving or planning for disaster recovery, it was found that 88pc of IT managers across medium and large sized companies have a continuity plan in place should data be unexpectedly compromised.
This study shows that whereas some areas within the public sector have begun to implement BCRS plans, there is a significant amount of work yet to be done by much of the public sector in order to plan ahead and protect itself and vital data during potential times of crisis,” said Oisin Byrne, managing director of iReach.
However, when the 250 IT decision makers were questioned from both the public and private sector, it emerged that all public sector organisations were familiar with legislation regarding Business Continuity and Recovery Service (BCRS).
In the financial sector 3pc were not up to scratch with the legislation in comparison with 7pc in the construction industry.
The survey further revealed the trends for spending in the BCRS area in the next year. It emerged that rather than concentrating on infrastructure, spending will be focused on people management.
This includes both readying employees for BCRS policy and implementation as well as putting a focus on business continuity at a corporate level.
“In today’s global marketplace, any amount of downtime can be devastating, if not terminal, to a business,” said Martin Murphy, general manager of Hewlett Packard, Ireland.
“Research shows that IT decision makers see a dramatic return on investment as a result of building a sound, long-term, holistic business continuity plan, which will ultimately reduce the impact of internal or external threats.”
By Marie Boran
