IT Disaster Recovery Planning For Dummies®

Chapter 17. Ten Benefits of DR Planning

NASA's work over the past forty years has supposedly led to the development of everyday products and services that millions of people enjoy today. Similarly, organizations that undertake disaster recovery planning enjoy a number of spin-off benefits that help the organization, even if a disaster never occurs.

Improved Chances of Surviving "The Big One"

No organization is immune from the effects of natural and man-made disasters. The only question is, does the organization invest in processes and systems that can assure its survival from any disaster?

Although I can't guarantee that every organization with a solid DR plan can survive any disaster, an organization with a DR plan is far more likely to survive than an organization that doesn't have such a plan. Contingency Planning and Management Magazine indicated that 40 percent of companies that had to shut down for three days or more failed within 36 months. This statistic should remind you that failure in your DR planning isn't an option.

A Rung or Two Up the Maturity Ladder

Carnegie Mellon University measures the maturity of business processes by using the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), developed by Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute (SEI).

The CMM has five levels. According to the SEI, "Predictability, effectiveness, and control of an organization's software processes are believed to improve as the organization moves up these five levels. While not rigorous, the empirical evidence ...