The computer age has brought with it significant improvements in communications and processing within the business world. Where once large numbers of individuals were required to transact everyday business, desktop computers, workstations and networks have now taken over much of this activity. The end result is that productivity has increased, the amount of paperwork has decreased, the effectiveness of staff members has been driven up, and companies are able to perform complicated tasks with a minimum staff. That, at least, is the scenario when the computer system is working well. When the computer system goes down, productivity plummets; in the event of a catastrophic event, some companies may never recover. This research considers the effect that disasters can have on computer systems, and what steps companies can take to plan for recovering from a disaster of this type.
There are many types of events which can cause a company to be unable to use its computer system. Some of these are accidental events, or acts of nature, but others are man-made events. Protecting a system against sabotage has become a key factor for many companies evaluating computer systems. Limiting access through passwords and other measures is one way of preventing unauthorized users from causing internal damage (Kindel, 1993, p. 74). However, it is not merely access to the computer files that need to be protected, but access to the computer system itself. A disgruntled employee with a strong magnet (perhaps in a briefcase) can cause significant loss of data merely by walking through a data center. Restricted access is the best way to prevent this type of data loss (Kindel, 1993, p. 74).
Measures to protect against environmental disasters are more difficult to implement. Data centers are often located in the most structurally sound place in a building in order to protect them from minor events (Loudermilk, 1992, p. 8). Thus data centers may be...