Spring 2009 issue of Horizons

GENERAL TOPICS

Can Your Company Be Sustained After the Unexpected? In September 2008, the remnants of a hurricane brought heavy rain and winds to the St. Louis metropolitan area. Already saturated with waters brought by the remains of a previous hurricane a few weeks earlier, the grounds were unable to handle the downpour. Unprepared companies suddenly found themselves in a critical situation. The storm destroyed the servers and computers of some St. Louis businesses, many of which were unaware they operated in a flood plain. Although few could have anticipated the effects of these storms reaching so far inland, the fact remains that natural and man-made disasters take businesses by surprise every year. A loss of data or systems can be fatal to modern organizations, which is why ensuring data is backed up and recoverable is very important. After reading this article, you should be able to ask some key questions that will help you assess your organization’s sustainability. Disaster Recovery Planning Before talking about data backup methodologies, it is important to mention how Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning help an organization prioritize the processes, data and systems needed By Brandon Holzhueter and Brandon Loeschner, CPA, CISA

13

u spring 2009 issue