The Insider's Guide to Business and IT Agility
By David A. Kelly, Analyst, ebizQ , 09/10/2006
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Editor's note: For Part I of this article, click here.
What happens when everything you do is critical? Increasingly, for many organizations, that's the situation when they sit down to do disaster recovery or business continuity planning.
Unlike a few years ago, it was easy to isolate a few specific IT systems and applications as critical resources that needed to be protected in event of a natural or man-made disaster. However, most organizations and business processes have evolved to a point where almost every IT application, database and system is critical to the smooth operation of the business. Like it or not, people become dependant on the applications they use every day and getting a business back up and running after a disruption often requires planning to replicate to reproduce all an organizations important applications. For example, even though email was considered an ancillary communication tool in some organizations as recently as five or six years ago, it's probably a critical intra- and extra-company communication mechanism for almost all companies these days.
To help companies plan for overcoming problems or disasters and ensuring the continuity of business processes and IT applications, I've assembled a few tips and recommendations that organizations should consider when doing strategic recovery and continuity planning. I recommend that organizations:
* Take a process approach - Many organizations approach DR or BC as a project-something
that they need to do once, and then assume it's completed. With rapid change
in both IT and business environments, it's important to use a process approach
for strategic business continuity planning-it needs to be continually updated
and revised as business requirements change or dictate.
*Set the right expectations - An important part of a good DR or BC approach
is to make sure to set expectations correctly. Working with business managers
and corporate management to prioritize, decide, and communicate how long it
will take to restore specific systems after a problem. Let them know whether
it will take 5 minutes or 5 hours to get their email back.
1
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BPM VIEWPOINT: Are You Asking Yourself the Hard Questions about BPM in Today's Economy? 
BPM VIEWPOINT: Does Oracle/Sun Mean It's a Horse Race for BPM?
Managing Case Management Within BPM
BPM VIEWPOINT: How Do You Look at BPM?
When It Comes to BPM Type, It All Depends on You
BPM VIEWPOINT: Does Case Management Fill in the Gaps in the BPM Spectrum?
ebizQ is very interested in what you have to say. To contribute an article, an opinion, or to become a blogger, please contact Peter Schooff.
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June 3, 2009
One of the most compelling trends in the enterprise business technology space over the past year has been the emergence of cloud computing. In ebizQ’s upcoming Qcamp virtual un-conference, leading industry experts and practitioners will explore the role of service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM) in supporting cloud-computing initiatives. Additionally, the new skills that developers and IT managers need for successful cloud development will be discussed.Register
Date: Aug 26, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date: Sep 30, 2009
Time: 12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date:Aug 26, 2009
Time:12:00 PM
ET- (16:00 GMT)
Date:Sep 30, 2009
Time:12:00 PM
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