Headlines of terrorist attacks have unsettled company executives, who are increasingly thinking about business continuity and disaster recovery planning, according to experts in the United Kingdom. In April, IBM expanded its related offerings in Europe with the purchase of Schlumberger's business continuity services unit, which added over 10,000 seats to its capacity in that region in the form of call centres, office space, and financial trading facilities. Though IBM says terrorism accounts for just 2 percent of incidents where disaster recovery or business continuity is needed, many other risks are reason enough for companies to plan for the future. IBM Business Consulting Services senior consultant Robin Gaddum says many companies risk major financial losses if they are unprepared after a major incident. Gartner reports 40 percent of companies who undergo a disaster without business continuity planning fail within five years, while the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration says more than 90 percent of firms go bankrupt within a year if they lose access to IT for more than 10 days. IBM vice president Philippe Jarre says that with the recent European expansion, IBM aims to provide holistic business continuity services ranging from data centre infrastructure to business processes. IBM says it has a total of 130 business continuity centres worldwide that are available to clients should their regular workplaces become inaccessible for any reason. Copyright 2004 INFORMATION, INC. Full story in The Financial Times, 21 June 2004 (may require a subscription) |
