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C
ompanies today are exposed to an
increasingly complex array of risks,
threats and uncertainties which are
only expected to accelerate in the years
to come. Whether driven by technological
developments, cybersecurity threats, data
privacy concerns, or natural disasters, coping
with accelerating change and the evolving
threat landscape is no longer a business
advantage, it’s a business necessity.
Digital Transformation, meanwhile, is
accelerating expectations of pace and
availability among end-users. The demand
for always-on services to run and be
available without fail 24/7 has created
a series of resilience imperatives that
companies and the data centres supporting
them, must account for.
In order to better understand the challenges
companies face from unexpected disruptions,
their impact on organisations and how
companies are preparing to handle them, we
surveyed business leaders across the UK.
Our findings reflect a C-suite faced with a
delicate balancing act in times of increasing
technological and operational disruption.
The financial and reputational
impact of disruption
The financial impact of technology
disruptions in businesses today is clear, with
UK respondents providing insights into the
losses they have experienced annually due
to downtime.
The leaders we surveyed reported an
average loss of £1.4 million annually, with
almost half (48%) stating technology
expenditure had increased. Much of
this increased expenditure will no doubt
be attributed to data centres and the
associated infrastructure, which sits at the
very heart of business operations for most
companies today.
As well as the costs associated with having
to repair what’s gone wrong and restore
operations, the business leaders surveyed also
understood the impact any break in service
could have on customer loyalty and retention.
www.intelligentcio.com
Chris Huggett, Senior Vice President UK and
India, Sungard Availability Services
In the UK, 72% agreed that their customers
are more likely to seek a new supplier if they
suffer a data breach or IT downtime. The
same amount agreed customers are likely
to walk away if they do not have a disaster
recovery process in place.
Today, if an organisation cannot
demonstrate that good data protection
is a cornerstone of its business policy and
practices, it is open to enforcement action
that can damage both public reputation and
the bottom line.
Top executives can also incur personal
financial losses, such as forfeited bonuses;
and more disconcerting, some have even
been forced to step down following public
outcry surrounding crises.
A robust resilience strategy should address
three core elements for an organisation:
being safe, being available and being agile.
Disruption doesn’t only occur when IT
infrastructure and operations are interrupted.
Changes like a merger or acquisition can also
pose challenges to the smooth running of IT
and business services.
Resilience requires putting the right
processes, tools and technologies in place
to protect businesses from the scale and
scope of any interruptions. In addition, a
INTELLIGENTCIO
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