I was recently asked to participate in a strategy session with a client on their IT infrastructure strategy. The CIO called and asked if I would come spend the day, and the driving question is, where should we go with infrastructure. So during the first hour of the session, I asked all the questions, and the big question is, what do you have for a BCP or DR plan? No one answered for the first few minutes, everyone had that blank look on their face. Not that uncommon I assured them, and said, that is a great place to start.
During the BCP definition stage, your infrastructure requirements start to take shape on the white board. If your business leaders and application owners are asking for high availability, no data loss, low recovery point goals, then you now have some requirements to define your infrastructure design. Plus, start looking at other business capability objectives, like mobility, customer portals, and the list will go on, now you can align infrastructure to the business. Take all your notes from the white board now, and start to build your 2014 design, goals, objectives and technology solutions. Keeping BCP and DR right in the mix, and when you are done, your plans are defined right along with your infrastructure efforts.
The best way to do Business Continuity Plans is to make them part of your day to day operational tasks, architecture tasks, and a line item in all IT projects. Then it is not a burden project anymore, but something that maintains itself as part of all staff daily tasks. Now don't get me wrong, someone still needs to own it, maintain it, and train new staff on it. I propose to all my customers that BCP and DR plans is woven into the fabric of all IT functions.
Keep it positive!
Scott Arnett
www.arnettservicesgroup.com
About Me
- Scott Arnett
- Scott Arnett is an Information Technology & Security Professional Executive with over 30 years experience in IT. Scott has worked in various industries such as health care, insurance, manufacturing, broadcast, printing, and consulting and in enterprises ranging in size from $50M to $20B in revenue. Scott’s experience encompasses the following areas of specialization: Leadership, Strategy, Architecture, Business Partnership & Acumen, Process Management, Infrastructure and Security. With his broad understanding of technology and his ability to communicate successfully with both Executives and Technical Specialists, Scott has been consistently recognized as someone who not only can "Connect the Dots", but who can also create a workable solution. Scott is equally comfortable playing technical, project management/leadership and organizational leadership roles through experience gained throughout his career. Scott has previously acted in the role of CIO, CTO, and VP of IT, successfully built 9 data centers across the country, and is expert in understanding ITIL, PCI Compliance, SOX, HIPAA, FERPA, FRCP and COBIT.
No comments:
Post a Comment