Different Viewpoints of IT Decision-Makers and Business Executives

Harris Interactive surveyed 497 IT individuals who were either IT or business executives and the results showed similarities and differences in matters relating to disaster recovery.

Similarities
IT and business decision-makers agreed that information availability is important to the success of their business. Both parties also expressed the importance of avoiding lost productivity and the negative impact on customer satisfaction resulting from unexpected outages.

Differences
The groups responded differently when asked about how frequently their company’s disaster recovery plans are tested.  30% of business decision-makers were unsure as to how frequently their company’s disaster recovery plans were tested.  On the other hand, only 5% of IT respondents were unaware.  When asked about what their plan includes, 41% of business participants were unsure, while only 4% of IT employees were uncertain.  One-fifth of the surveyors confirmed that they use a third-party provider to manage disaster recovery systems and over half of them believe those offerings are more cost effective and provide better solutions.

One of the survey questions asked respondents to give their company a letter grade on their firm’s ability to access business-critical information after an unplanned outage.  With 30% of IT executives choosing a “C” or “D,” this should be an indication that business decision-makers might need to educate themselves more on what is in their company’s disaster recovery plan.

Both IT and business professionals should share responsibility in making sure employees are aware of their organization’s disaster recovery plan and its components.