In the days following Hurricane Katrina, a Texas data storage and backup firm reported, "We've had a number of calls from companies in utter chaos. They're at risk of losing their business, especially small and mid-sized businesses."¹

Disaster, crisis, chaos. In the 21st century these words may be common, but they're as alarming as ever to managers responsible for maintaining business operations. Though we rarely receive advance warning of crisis coming and hardly ever grasp the full dimensions of the actual threat, one thing is clear. Managers must be open-minded in their contingency planning and prepare for a full range of threats as if they are all inevitable.

There is good news in this predicament, however, as cited recently in Business Week: "Preparing for one disaster prepares for all of them. Planning relies on the same infrastructure and organizations."²

In the same vein, International Association of Emergency Managers™ director Elizabeth Armstrong has said, "The cost of developing a business continuity plan and implementing a technology infrastructure to support the plan is minimal when compared with the daily financial impact once disaster strikes."³

Fortunately, the picture is far from all bad. Many far-sighted organizations, to their credit, have realized that proactive planning to protect assets and speed recovery to systems-normal operation is nothing short of mission-critical. They have done their homework, instituted programs to ensure business continuity and implemented an IT infrastructure that offers true business adaptability and responsiveness.