|
ITIL Service
Continuity is far more than just Disaster Recovery Planning. IT
Service Continuity Management prepares for the worst case scenario,
that is not just how to recover from disaster but to stop the
disaster from occurring in the first place, if at all possible.
ITSCM investigates, develops and implements recovery options when an
interruption to service reaches a pre-defined
point.
What is a
Disaster?
Defining the
pre-conditions that constitute a disaster is part of the ITSCM
process. Such definitions form an integral part of any Service Level
Agreement relating to the provision of
services.
ITIL Service
Continuity addresses Risk
ITSCM addresses risks
that could cause a sudden and serious impact, such that they could
immediately threaten the Continuity of the business. These typically
include things such as:
- loss, damage or
denial of access to key Infrastructure services
- failure or
non-performance of critical providers, distributors or other third
parties
- loss or corruption
of key information
- sabotage, extortion
or commercial espionage
- deliberate
infiltration or attack on critical information
systems.
Customer
input
The ultimate choice of
which option to choose, is made by the customer as part of the
SLA agreements. Price has
an obvious factor in selected the appropriate recovery option. In
the current global situation, a structured approach to IT Service
Continuity Management has become more and more important. Business
processes rely more and more on IT Services and IT components are
more under ‘attack’.
ITSCM must be aligned
to the Business continuity Lifecycle
Business Continuity
Management (BCM) is concerned with managing risks to ensure that at
all times an organisation can continue operating to, at least, a
pre-determined minimum level. The BCM process involves reducing the
risk to an acceptable level and planning for the recovery of
business processes should a risk materialize and a disruption to the
business occur. In essence ITSCM must be a part of the overall
Business continuity Plan and not dealt with in isolation.
Want to find out more
about ITIL:
| 
