META Report: The New Logistics of Disaster Recovery

Situation Analysis: One of the significant changes caused by the events of September 11 is a shift in the approach toward IT business continuity planning by Global 2000 organizations. In the past, IT organizations (ITOs) did their own disaster planning, focusing on concerns such as a fire or natural disaster damaging computer systems. The basic assumption was that the employees would be available but the systems would be damaged and nonfunctional.

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Although these risks and basic concerns about power and water supply in the event of a disaster have been magnified by the threat of terrorism, organizations must also prepare for the increased possibility of temporarily losing access to their facilities. Something as simple as a packet of talcum powder sent through the mail by an irate stockholder or customer could trigger an anthrax scare and shut down a corporate headquarters for days. The systems would still work, but employees would not be able to get to their offices.

Our conversations with clients indicate that numerous corporate HR and facilities management groups are now investigating more dispersed corporate offices and staffs. For example, instead of a single corporate headquarters housing 10,000 employees, an enterprise might consider four dispersed offices with 2,500 employees each. We also expect that telecommuting - work at home, and using satellite teleworking facilities operated by third parties - will increase. To begin these evaluations, organizations should inventory their workers to see who can work from home or from satellite facilities. Business continuity plans must be kept up-to-date - most organizations that have these plans will find that they currently contain out-of-date employee information.

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Telecommuting is being encouraged by the federal government in two ways. First, long before September 11, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) mandated that all federal agencies empower at least 20% of their employees to telecommute. Second, both houses of Congress are considering passing a law to offer all taxpayers a one-time $500 tax credit for establishing a telecommuting infrastructure in their homes. To qualify for the credit, the taxpayer would need to telecommute a minimum of 75 days per year. Recent testimony for the House of Representatives bill points to several advantages of telecommuting - reduced air pollution, less traffic congestion, and increased family time for telecommuters, as well as risk mitigation/business continuity following a disastrous event.

The escalation of business continuity planning has major implications for ITOs. Technologists must work closely with facilities management and HR to develop a coordinated disaster plan, rather than being forced to react when the plan is announced and staff starts preparing to move. Furthermore, the ITO should help drive changes in corporate culture encouraging more collaboration and knowledge-sharing to mitigate the risk of disruptive events. This can cover a wide range of concerns, from protecting corporate intellectual property to decreasing the danger of infectious disease in the office by eliminating the need for physical document sharing.

These trends will increase the demands put on networking and on collaborative tools such as video- and audio-conferencing and shared applications. They will also increase the need to deliver resources to desktops and laptops, including "virtual presence," which enables any employee to log in from any point on the network, in any office (even using a computer pulled from storage), and immediately see a copy of his/her specific desktop environment.

The use of laptop computers may also increase, enabling users to carry with them much of what they need to function; wireless connectivity will enable them to connect from outside their office or home. However, as enterprises move toward more use of portable computing, IT groups must be aware of the data management and security issues that this raises. Organizations accustomed to maintaining highly centralized databases must implement new procedures to secure their data from loss or theft.

Digital signature and e-contract technologies (e.g., Silanis, E-Lock) can enable organizations to replace paper contracts with electronic documents. Not only will this help cut travel, but it can also eliminate the need for transferring documents via the mail. In the current crisis, some US government offices have not had mail delivery for several weeks.