TyroCity

Discussion on: Disaster Recovery & Business continuity OR looking forward to new technology and business trends?

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ShantaMilan

Strategic planning can be understood as the process or road map developed to increase the growth of the organization by allocating the resources to its optimal level. (Shuman, 1982) Information system on the other hand is like the nervous system that provides supports and connection to every organ in the body. (Wallace, 2015) Thus we can see that strategic planning for IS can be termed as developing a grand design for the proper flow of communication and information in an organization helping in the growth of the firm. The strategic planning for IS has a long term objective for the growth and success of the business. It includes setting of vision, principles and policies, project portfolio management, disaster recovery and business continuity, and technology and business trend. “One of the key elements of strategic planning for information systems (IS) is the integration of information systems planning (ISP) with business planning (BP). This integration enables IS to support business strategies more effectively. (Thompson S H & King, , 1997)Thus the importance of strategic planning of IS cannot be stressed enough as it is a integral part of the business success.

Good managers give more time on planning than actual execution as planning solves half the difficulty which give a stronger boost towards business success. Disaster recovery and business continuity. Disaster risk reduction and preparedness are words that we hear a lot. When it comes to business the data stored from the past years is an asset of a company. Sales records, customer records, various important product designs, prototypes, product formulas etc. are as valuable as gold to the company. If these are lost in any disaster, it could even lead to the liquidation of the company or worse. Thus pre planning for disaster recovery is very important. Disaster recovery does not only mean bringing the network back online (Wallace, 2015) it also needs to work on the business continuity part. ‘What next?’ would be the question to answer after a disaster recovery. This can depend on the type of business. For example a retail business may think it is more important to open the access to ecommerce, a restaurant may want to open its shutters with a smaller menu, a tours and travels may want to open a hotline for ticket booking etc.

In the major earthquake that shook Kathmandu in 2015 I had a lot of official guests from South East Asia attending a program here. I had to go to the airport to check on their flight and could not find any form of communication with Thai Air or Malaysian Air. I was amazed to see a single contact person of Etihad Airlines sitting in a chair while there was not business continuity plan of any other airlines. New technology and business trends New technology is very important to keep track of. Technology has changed the way we live. Transportation, communication, research, schooling, business, marketing and the list goes on and on. These new technology makes life easier or business better. For example business these days are shifting to ecommerce. With technological advancement in mobile and internet, everyone has their own space in a virtual world. It is vital for the success of business to meet these customers in the virtual world.

Similarly it is not the reality that affects a business but rather the perception of the customers. It is very important to understand which direction the trend is blowing. Customers may be impractical and so must the business treat it as what it is. For example mobiles these days have developed assistants or in the process of making artificial intelligence for customer support. Every mobile company has started to develop this and even customers take note of this on their check list before purchasing a mobile. Comparing business recovery and continuity versus new technology and trend, both are equally important and one cannot exist without the other. But taking the weight of the two for business sustainability, I believe business recovery and continuity would be more important as without this the business would seize to exist.

References

Shuman, J. N. (1982). Strategic Planning and Information Systems. American Society for Information Science. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science; , 23.

Thompson S H, T., & King, , W. (1997). Integration between business planning and information systems planning: An evolutionary-contingency perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems: JMIS; Armonk, 185-214.

Wallace, P. (2015). Information System in Action. In P. Wallace, Introduction to Information System (pp. 4-9). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.