KingsBridge Blog

In 2012, KingsBridge will be focusing on talking about the disruption side of Recovery planning.  If you have spent any time in this field, or are new to it you’ve seen the millions of photos of hurricanes, earthquakes, fires and devastating floods.  Not to make light of these incidents, but for the most part they aren’t likely to impact your business and as you have no doubt learned “If it isn’t likely, don’t plan for it!” or “Don’t worry, we’ve never had any trouble before so why bother to plan now?”.  While both of these are valid excuses, realistically you should be planning for what will impact your business…  Namely, “Disruptions” not “Disasters”.  Let’s take at what I mean:

These top three issues cause nearly 50% of business disruptions: Power failure, IT Hardware failure and Network failure. Hurricanes, Tornados, Fires and Earthquake combined only account for 15%. – Forrester/Disaster Recovery Journal 2010 Global DR Survey

Power Failures, IT Failures aren’t nearly as catastrophic or sexy to surround your message with.  As a result, they get overlooked for the more spectacular disasters.  But realistically, how many power failures are you likely to have compared to Earthquakes?  Plan for the incidents with the highest likelihood.

Still not going along with this train of thought?  Let’s use a “disruption” that is in the news right now: the sinking of the Costa Concordia (off the coast of Italy).  Most people would look at this and shrug their shoulders saying that these things happen.  True, they do, but it comes as a $95 Million disruption to Carnival’s (parent company) revenue from that ship, the ship will be out of service for a year (if not longer) and Carnival is still paying the $580 Million it took the build the ship!  The impact of this incident is being felt around the cruising industry and will likely cancel any chance of profits Carnival hoped to make this year.  This doesn’t even touch the 14% share decrease that Carnival suffered this week and satisfy the 36% of booked customers who called with concerns.  All told, the cost of this disruption will be almost impossible to calculate.  All due to the captain of the ship taking it off course to “show off” to others on the boat.

While this does paint a bleak outlook for Carnival and the cruising industry, it will bounce back (eventually) and people will return to their ships just as they did when the Titanic sank 100 years ago.

Is the sinking of the Costa Concordia an Earthquake or a Fire?  No.  Outside of Carnival Cruise lines is it considered a Disaster (in the BCP/DRP sense)? No.  In the grand scheme of Carnival and the cruising industry is it a disruption? YES!  As it is more likely to occur (and have an impact on Carnival) than any fire, earthquake or drought.

How does this relate to your business?

Look at your business from a disruption perspective; snowstorms, power failures, computer failures, etc…  These are things that happen every day and will never make the news, but will immediately impact your business.  Recovery planning is all about limiting the impact to your business and your bottom line.  So the next time you talk about Recovery Planning and just shrug it off with “it’ll never happen to me” thoughts, remember this article and make sure you aren’t going to go down with the ship!

RIP to those who died while a passenger or working on the Costa Concordia.

About KingsBridge

KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. KingsBridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with an office in Ottawa, Canada. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.