Disaster Recovery Journal Spring 2024

u DR visibility normally doesn’t reach the C-suite . DR programs have limited C-suite visibility, with only 41% of DR program heads reporting to a C-level executive (see Figure 3). Though in this year’s survey we saw an equal number of respondents report the head of DR reports two levels down from the C-suite, a big jump from the 26% reported in our last survey. Moving the role up in the organization strengthens alignment with overall business needs and increases access to resources for ensuring technology resilience for critical business functions. u DR is increasingly a risk management concern . Firms are clearly aligning DR programs with risk management. Close to two-thirds of respondents reported their enterprise risk management (ERM) and DR programs are related, even if they’re not part of the same functional organization (see Figure 4). Furthermore, 23% of DR programs are directed by a risk management function. As technology strategy becomes more synonymous with business strategy, technology outages form a more direct threat to business revenue, reputation, and regulatory posture. Risk professionals bring a more holistic perspective to mitigating risk and balancing investment properly to address the needs of the business. DR Planning and Practices Leave Many Unprepared About 17% of survey respondents reported having a significant disaster, outage, or business disruption in the last two years. Additionally, less than 40% of respondents felt very or extremely pre pared to deal with a site failure or disaster (see Figure 5). Forrester has found: u Business impact analyses (BIAs), risk assessments, and DR plans need attention . Roughly 69% of respondents update DR plans annually, with another 20% updating more frequently (see Figure 6). Risk assessments and BIAs

follow similar update patterns. Fewer than 20% of respondents update these three aspects of risk and recovery planning twice a year or more frequently. In a business climate which demands constant technology change, having a long update cycle means

10 DISASTER RECOVERY JOURNAL | SPRING 2024