Real life experiences: Lessons learned in disaster recovery planning

With the smooth transition past year 2000, many companies were surprised on Sept. 11 by the insufficiencies in their disaster recovery and business continuity plans. From difficulty contacting critical employees, to back-up hardware that had never been turned on -- the experiences of that period revitalized focus on disaster recovery. New plans were made; new hardware purchased; testing was scheduled and completed.

Just two years later, the Northeast was shaken again -- this time by the power outage in August 2003. This event was met with many successes -- and new surprises. Particularly poignant for GFI Group, a growing inter-dealer broker, were the issues of keeping disaster recovery implementations up-to-date with new and changing business needs. Debbie Schwartz, a manager of broker systems for GFI Group, reflects on the lessons learned and shares her thoughts to ensure that you're prepared for your current business needs.

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