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Another Bay Area business that must plan for any worst-case scenario is FCE Benefit Administrators, which handles health care claims. Tom Toot, IT manager at FCE, told Silicon.com an earthquake would present his own company with the challenges of business continuity and disaster recovery at the very moment its services might be most in demand.
"We need business continuity. It is critical for us," said Toot. "A few missed e-mails could prevent treatment being approved in a timely manner. I really don't want to say it's a matter of life or death, but it really could be."
A double challenge
Communications lines are critical, Cardoza said. "If we can't communicate with one another, then we can't mitigate the problem."
Senior executives all have locations at their disposal that are fitted with videoconferencing facilities, among other communications options.
"There is a lot of redundancy," said Cardoza, showing three desk phones that all connect via different lines. "If we can't go one route then we can go another. We have redundant carriers and redundant phones."
He said the bank is also looking at satellite, BlackBerrys, walkie-talkies and SMS as communication alternatives, as well as at sharing initiatives across the whole organization--which is headed by Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank, an institution that must weigh similar tectonic concerns for its own region.
The only benefit afforded in earthquake planning is that which is known: where the fault lies and what areas it affects. Fires, tornados and hurricanes tend to be bound by less clearly mapped lines.
"I'd rather be here than in tornado country, or in the way of a hurricane," said Cardoza.
Cardoza said as such the bank is able to plan recovery sites outside the areas that would be affected--though he conceded nowhere is completely safe.
"A business recovery site must be as far away as possible, but not so far that people won't go there. And you want hardware to be as far away from the affected area as possible. It might not be a case of having site A and site B; you may also have site C and so on."
However, Cardoza said while he hopes his business continuity planning will never be tested, he said it is far from a bottomless pit for funds. He said much of the planning offers day-to-day strategic value, such as using data centers for load-balancing.
He said one important development, bringing in Citrix, whose product allows staff to work from home if locations became inaccessible, was actually a result of executives requesting to work from home in order to improve efficiency.
"It was only once I was speaking to Citrix I realized this is one of the greatest opportunities for resilience," Cardoza said. "We're looking for a situation which is win-win from a strategic point of view. I certainly never want to see these plans put to the test."
Will Sturgeon of Silicon.com reported from San Francisco.
See more CNET content tagged:
business continuity,
Bay Area,
disaster,
disaster recovery,
San Francisco
My point is, not enough is being done to prepare for disasters in the IT business community. The talent base is out there, but there is little desire to make use of it.
I'm glad to see San Francisco is taking steps, but what about the rest of the country?
My point is, not enough is being done to prepare for disasters in the IT business community. The talent base is out there, but there is little desire to make use of it.
I'm glad to see San Francisco is taking steps, but what about the rest of the country?
Anybody who REQUIRES to be online 24 hours a day already has all of the redundancy they need.
So why is chicken little screaming about "the sky is falling" or "the earthquake is coming" now!
Walt
Anybody who REQUIRES to be online 24 hours a day already has all of the redundancy they need.
So why is chicken little screaming about "the sky is falling" or "the earthquake is coming" now!
Walt