Business continuity: Can you afford to risk it?

According to Ian Glover, Insight Consulting's managing director, threats to voice and data networks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, so the need for expertise and proven technology to combat threats to business continuity has never been greater.

Glover says that there are number of key issues on the business continuity front that, without careful planning, can leave organisations vulnerable to attack.

These issues are: managing employee access rights; telecoms threats; education, training and awareness; and intrusion prevention.

Educate your staff

Insight Consulting claims that the third issue, that of education, training and awareness, is often overlooked in many organisations when it comes to IT security.

Insight's solution is its Community Policy Centre, an Intranet based application that provides a database for IT security best practice and a platform for increasing staff awareness through e-learning.

For an organisation to become truly resilient, Insight says that it must ensure that all staff are familiar with IT security best practice. Having this information to hand at all times therefore helps to ensure that all members of staff are appropriately trained.

Whilst vendors such as Telewest and Siemens can provide information on how best to effectively implement a business continuity plan within an organisation, the DTI also offers an array of information on its web site.

Telewest Business, meanwhile, offers a free audit - via its web site on the state of readiness of your organisation for a disruptive event or disaster.

The integrated state of many organisations' IT resources means that there are no hard and fast rules for all organisations when it comes to business continuity.

What is important to realise is that, as with most other organisational procedures, the implementation of a successful business continuity plan revolves around careful planning, the taking of good advice, and a healthy application of business common sense.

Organisations that follow this approach, and closely tailor their plans to their true needs, will be in pole position in the event that disaster strikes.

From his base in Sheffield, England, Steve Gold has been an IT journalist specialising in communications and security for 22 years, 18 of them full-time.