Information Superage

Disaster Recovery And The Information Superage

We are in the Information Super Age. As we enter the Twenty First Century, businesses are turning in increasing numbers to high technology systems to gain and maintain their competitive advantage. Be they producers of high technology products or not, they are relying upon high technology products to build, promote, sell and deliver their wares. These organizations are, therefore, dependent upon the technology they use to maintain their income, image and profitability. Disaster Recovery Planning is the process of protecting organizations to minimize the effects of outages in information systems on the organization and its mission.

Disaster Recovery Planning is not a new idea. It has been performed in many forms by organizations since the 1960s, when reliance on mainframe systems began to grow. It could be argued that planning has been performed since ages past. There is a difference, however, between the planning of the past and that performed now.

Today's planning is not restricted to computer or telecommunications systems -- it is enterprise wide planning. There lies the key difference between the old way of hot sites and service providers and the new way of self-contained backup capabilities. The goal of Enterprise Disaster Recovery Planning is to protect the operations of the enterprise, not just the computing systems. Without the people and procedures to keep the company going, there is little point in restoring systems.

A new level of fast

We evolved to this dependency through the continual redefining of the word "fast". As recently as the 1960's and 1970's, "fast" turnaround meant a week or, with luck, a few days. Collecting information required contacting offices by mail or by phone. When we entered the automated world of the 1980's, fast was redefined to mean today. Until that time, profit reports, sales records and projections, what-if analyses and other business reports required days of collection, computation, and analysis. The 1980's brought us lower-cost computing and high speed communications. The enterprise was fast become a world-wide entity so that even mid sized companies could successfully compete internationally.

The 1990's further redefined the meaning of "fast." No longer was fast tomorrow or even today. Fast means now. The 1990's have brought us distributed systems, client/server architectures, and very high speed communications. Moreover, all of these are available to costs low enough so a wide range of companies can afford them. In the 1990's, we do not merely send requests for information to people in other offices; we have one computer request information from another computer. The old ways do not meet the required timelines. The new ways are technologically sophisticated.

Elevated expectations

In the span of three decades we have redefined the term "fast" from weeks to minutes. Customer expectations have kept pace. While helping ourselves manage our businesses more effectively, we have also raised our customers' and our own expectations. The faster we can make information available, the more we depend on that information being there when we need it. If it is not there, we can suffer great losses.

In the past, the computer was represented by its output. Computers were isolated in their special areas away from the center of business operations. Their presence was revealed only by stacks of output appearing on the shop floor, in the warehouse or even in the front office. Computers were used for reporting on what happened rather than on controlling operations for the very reason that most people understood computers only by their output. Everyone knows that paper is used for reports, not for controls.

Production systems were independent. The business units operated manually, but with support from their big systems. Warehouses usually operated manually and manufacturing lines were strangers to information systems and technology. Customer service operations used computers, but often entered data onto forms as well. Lumbering as computers were, most major companies were using computer systems extensively by the middle of the eighties.

At this same time, personal productivity tools running on desktop PCs infiltrated every aspect of corporate life. By the mid to late 1980s, these technological marvels bulldozed typewriters and drawing tables into obsolescence. The appearance of regular corporate reports and communications improved immensely. Their timeliness improved also. Yet, there was a clear separation between the information contained in the big machines and the administrative functions served by the desktop ones.

The advances of the early 1990s have dramatically changed the way we perceive systems and their uses. The gap between the big machines and their desktop, laptop and pocket counterparts has grown ever smaller. There is no longer the great distinction between these classes of equipment. PCs have now worked their way onto the desktops of the vast majority of white collar workers. Decision makers, sales people, and all manner of corporate travelers move through airports and hotels toting their computers. Corporations have increased their spending on computer systems every year since 1985 even when overall spending was declining.

Today's computer systems are no longer relegated to special rooms. They populate our desks, run our production lines, organize our warehouses, and schedule our work. They even help us manage our business with just-in-time production, just-in-time ordering, and just-in-time cash flows!

The Big Change: Computer users are information users

The big change in the 1990s is that personal productivity has evolved from desktop typing to full system access and analysis. Computer users are now the information users. Processing is now on line. Even in heavy manufacturing it is common to see monitors on machinery and throughout the factory. Microcomputers perform automatic analyses using data gathered from dispersed systems into spreadsheets or data bases. Instead of seeing reports, people see computers everywhere.

While computers are still not as easy and intuitive to use as pen and paper, the ease of use of personal computers has come a long way. Executives now use computers regularly. Top management at large firms often uses computers, cooperating in a workgroup structure with administrative and secretarial support staff. These executives tap into corporate information often without realizing that the information they use comes from corporate computer assets around the world. Executive management uses this power to gain and maintain their competitive advantage. Access to real time data, processed through decision support systems, empowers executives to manage operations and set priorities precisely and rapidly.

Financial officers apply this power to gaining control of their finances rather than just reporting on them. New and improved banking systems are coming on line quickly as banks strive to capture competitors' depositors. Corporate banking functions now move money on demand by wire, by modem, and by automated transactions. Microcomputer based money management systems permit corporate treasury and financial analysts retrieve quick account balances and schedule transactions for just-in-time funding.

Systems sharpen the competitive edge in other ways as well. Production lines run by computers are often more efficient, enabling precise production scheduling and the full range of Material Requirements Planning (MRP) functions. Warehouses run with computers store products and supplies more efficiently, thereby reducing the overall square footage required. Shipping and receiving functions coexist more peacefully, thereby reducing labor costs.

Computer use has evolved from hidden rooms and paper output to real time monitoring and process control. Computers no longer report on the past -- they control the present and help determine the future. These process oriented systems increase effectiveness and lower costs, but they also increase corporate dependence on systems. While lack of a decision support system may have impacts on future competitive posture or cash flow, the absence of process control systems precipitates a work stoppage. The automated warehouse no longer ships or receives and the computerized production line stops. Money is not moved, projects are not funded, and suppliers are not paid. The tools to gain competitive advantage are double edged. Making effective use of them means we must protect ourselves by preparing for the eventuality that we will have a "tool work stoppage."

Corporate goals for information systems

A new breed of top management, called the Chief Information Offices (CIO), has arrived to align information systems with overall systems goals. In years past, there was no such position because information was not considered a single entity needing management. Accounting data was managed by the financial officer. Sales data was managed by the sales manager. Manufacturing and production data was managed by the managers of those functions. Data from these various departments was collected and synthesized into information and written into reports by analysts on staff to the operating officers.

Information is now considered a single entity. Distinctions of origin, be they departmental or geographic, are no longer as significant as they were in years past, due in part to the ease with which information is moved and consolidated. Once perceived and managed as a single entity, information became a vehicle for control of corporate output and direction. Information is now an asset. The CIO is the manager of this asset.

The role of the CIO is to manage the collection, flow and distribution of information assets to further corporate goals and to improve corporate profitability. These assets include the information itself as well as all systems used to collect and carry the information. Systems include computers, of course, but may also include phone systems, fax systems, copying systems, mailing systems, communications systems, and any other system whose primary function is the collection, transmission or processing of information.

There is a risk to such integrated information systems: a system outage of the vendor can cause supply shortages for the customer. A supply shortage can mean lost revenue, and no vendor wants to be the cause of customer revenue losses. In this example, information technology enhances the supplier's competitive advantage; it also introduces new risks. The mitigation technique they chose is to protect their capabilities so that even if the systems suffered a disaster, the capability would continue. This is Disaster Recovery Planning.

Dependence levels are increasing

The coming years promise even greater corporate dependence on information technology. The battle cry of companies everywhere is to improve the "ilities" -- availability, reliability, and usability. The disaster recovery planning is an important way of achieving robustness and maintaining productivity.

Disaster Recovery Planning increases availability by putting into place backup systems and capabilities to continue functions even if primary systems become unavailable. The planning improves reliability of mission critical applications by building into the systems fail-safe alternate modes of operation. Usability is enhanced by including the human factor into failure mode operations.