APAC to increase spend on business continuity services

BANGALORE: Research by IBM and Gartner Consulting, has revealed that 62 per

cent of Asia Pacific financial service and telecommunication organizations

indicate they will increase spending on IT business continuity services in the

next 12 months.






The research also found that 75 per cent of financial service and
telecommunication organizations have IT business continuity plans already in

place, with 40 per cent of companies surveyed describing their approach to

business continuity as a complete strategy. Another 32 per cent indicated they

had a business continuity plan in place for critical applications.






Key drivers for the implementation of IT business continuity services include
sensitivity of data, which accounted for 30 per cent, customer and market

requirements-22 per cent and protection of customer facing applications- 15 per

cent.

"The majority of survey respondents indicate their budget for business

continuity services is set to increase in the next 12 months," said IBM

Global Services Asia Pacific, Regional Offering Executive, Business Continuity,

Security and Privacy, Maneesh Tripathi. "This was particularly so in the

Indian market where 91 per cent of organizations surveyed anticipate a budget

increase."

"Customers clearly understand the importance of business continuity,

especially the cost impact on business processes if a continuity issue

arises," Tripathi added. "More than 35 per cent cited loss of

customers as the major cost impact and 25 per cent were concerned with the

possibility of business termination. Having a tested and current business

continuity plan is crucial to minimize impact to the business in the case where

a business continuity issue occurs."

When asked how frequently business continuity plans are updated, 38 per cent

of respondents indicated every 12 months and 17 per cent cited every three

months. Nine per cent indicated plans are updated monthly or more frequently.

In terms of the length of time required to re-establish operations in another

location as a result of a business continuity incident, recovery times estimated

by respondents show the majority are confident of restoring activities within

one day of the incident. Of the two industries surveyed, telecommunications

organizations indicate a stronger recovery capability, with 16 per cent of such

organizations confident services would be restored within a few minutes and 24

per cent indicating a few hours.

Among survey respondents, IBM rates as the leading provider of business

continuity services across the Asia Pacific region. According to respondents,

IBM's attributes include reputation, prior experience and ability to integrate

with existing systems.

Gartner Consulting interviewed 360 financial service and telecommunication

(strikethrough) organizations in Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore,

South Korea and Taiwan with more than 250 employees. More than 70 per cent of

the respondents managed their organization's IT operations.