Disaster Recovery Journal Spring 2023

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK

Learning from Southwest Airlines A s DRJ publishes its first issue of 2023, our first order of business has to be thanking Southwest Airlines. In my view, everyone who is committed to making industry more resilient owes Southwest a debt of

BOB ARNOLD, MBCI Hon.

disaster recovery methodologies and operational resilience, among other areas. The issue also includes our cover story by Amy DeMartine of Forrester Research (on Page 8) summing up the findings of the latest DRJ/Forrester survey on business continuity. The 2023 survey notes, among other trends, an encouraging rise post-COVID in the number of companies performing BIAs compared to previ ous years. Unfortunately, this is coupled with a persistent tendency for those BIAs to be super ficial and imprecise, according to the survey results. Another item in the issue—I’ve saved it for last not because it is the least important, but because it just might be the most important—is an explanation of DRJ’s commitment to foster ing a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion on Page 50. Accompanying this explanation is a request to our readers for help in turning this commitment into action. Specifically, we would like to hear from people who are interested in serving on a board that will help us in developing measures we can take to promote diversity and inclusion across our enterprises, including our conference, magazine, podcast, advisory board, website, and social media efforts. Given DRJ’s central role in the industry, board members might even have a chance to be a catalyst for positive change in the profession over all. There’s a lot more in the issue that is well worth knowing. For those of you who are interested in something worth doing, look no further than DRJ’s Spring 2023 conference March 12–15, 2023, at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Florida. Our theme this spring is “Solutions for a Resilient Tomorrow.” As usual we’ll be bringing together the industry’s best minds to tackle its hottest topics. Nothing beats the immersive learning environ ment, networking opportunities, and overall ben efits of the live, in-person conference experience. I hope to see you there.

gratitude. The airline’s holiday meltdown at the end of last year—during which it had to cancel more than 16,000 flights affecting some two million passengers—provided an object lesson in the criticality of operational resilience. That lesson might have had a greater educational impact than all the articles and conference presentations ever given on the subject. Southwest’s difficulties were the inspiration for a funny “Saturday Night Live” commercial. But there was nothing funny about the estimated $1 billion the meltdown is expected to cost the airline in revenue lost to canceled flights and passenger refunds. Operational resilience—the ability of an orga nization to maintain a certain minimal level of functionality no matter what disruptions occur— has become a must-have for serious companies in every industry. Among the key drivers for this need are the fact that threats are multiplying, impacts are increasing, and the 24/7 expectations for busi ness are growing. All of these facts were at top-of-mind as we were putting together the current issue of Disaster Recovery Journal. In it, you will find an article on Page 22 examining the Southwest fiasco from a resilience perspective by Matt Doernhoeffer, a technical resilience professional with nearly 20 years of experience with multiple federal agencies, as well as Deloitte, USAA, and United Airlines. Also in the issue (Page 37) is a piece outlining how organizations can transition from a business continuity approach to an operational resilience approach, written by Hakan Kantas, an IT direc tor whose 30-plus-year career has focused on IT

PRESIDENT bob@drj.com

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