That can be the case in a flood or if a riot requires evacuation. Eighty-two percent of companies do not have a tested disaster recovery plan, and 75 percent of companies do not understand the financial havoc that a computer outage would cause. According to another survey of 226 corporate business recovery managers conducted by IBM, only 8 percent of companies doing business on the Internet have a recovery plan in place. Overall, according to Comdisco's 1997 Comdisco Vulnerability Index, only 12 percent of all companies are actually prepared to deal with network or IS disasters. A big part of the problem, experts say, is that top business executives still don't understand the need for business continuity planning.
Some executives view all network concerns as technology issues rather than business issues.
Part of the problem, experts say, is that top business managers don't understand the full range of conditions that can bring systems to a halt. Many executives believe that smaller disasters that affect computer systems, but not necessarily life as we know it, can be prevented. That makes many top managers reluctant to pay for a comprehensive, tested business continuity plan. Resistance to a business continuity plan sometimes comes from the IS department itself. There are a few good ways for IT managers to get top executives to take the need for business disaster recovery planning seriously.