{"id":32429,"date":"2019-07-31T12:50:50","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T11:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/2019\/07\/31\/the-resilience-imperative-protecting-businesses-teams-and-leaders\/"},"modified":"2019-07-31T12:51:04","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T11:51:04","slug":"the-resilience-imperative-protecting-businesses-teams-and-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/eu\/2019\/07\/31\/the-resilience-imperative-protecting-businesses-teams-and-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"The resilience imperative: Protecting businesses, teams and leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research has revealed the extent to which UK business leaders are experiencing stress-related illness and damage to their mental well-being in the aftermath of cyberattacks, IT outages and network failures. Chris Huggett, Senior Vice President UK and India, Sungard Availability Services, discusses the financial and reputational impact of disruption, the human cost of downtime and how organisations can tackle this.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies today are exposed\nto an increasingly complex array of risks, threats and uncertainties, which are\nonly expected to accelerate in the years to come. Whether driven by technological\ndevelopments, cybersecurity threats, data privacy concerns, or natural\ndisasters, coping with accelerating change and the evolving threat landscape is\nno longer a business advantage, it\u2019s a business necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Transformation,\nmeanwhile, is accelerating expectations of pace and availability amongst\nend-users. The demand for always-on services to run and be available without\nfail 24\/7 has created a series of resilience imperatives that companies, and\nthe data centres supporting them, must account for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to better understand\nthe challenges companies face from unexpected disruptions, their impact on\norganisations and how companies are preparing to handle them, we surveyed<\/a> business leaders across the UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our findings reflect a C-suite\nfaced with a delicate balancing act in times of increasing technological and\noperational disruption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The financial and reputational\nimpact of disruption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The financial impact of\ntechnology disruptions in businesses today is clear, with UK respondents providing\ninsights into the losses they have experienced annually due to downtime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders we surveyed\nreported an average loss of \u00a31.4m annually, with almost half (48%) stating technology\nexpenditure had increased. Much of this increased expenditure will no doubt be\nattributed to data centres and the associated infrastructure, which sits at the\nvery heart of business operations for most companies today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as the costs\nassociated with having to repair what\u2019s gone wrong and restore operations, the\nbusiness leaders surveyed also understood the impact any break in service could\nhave on customer loyalty and retention.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, 72% agreed that\ntheir customers are more likely to seek a new supplier if they suffer a data\nbreach or IT downtime. The same amount agreed customers are likely to walk away\nif they do not have a disaster recovery process in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, if an organisation\ncannot demonstrate that good data protection is a cornerstone of its business\npolicy and practices, it is open to enforcement action that can damage both\npublic reputation and the bottom line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top executives can also incur\npersonal financial losses, such as forfeited bonuses; and more disconcerting,\nsome have even been forced to step down following public outcry surrounding\ncrises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A robust resilience strategy should\naddress three core elements for an organisation: being safe, being available\nand being agile.\nDisruption doesn\u2019t only occur when IT infrastructure and operations are interrupted.\nChanges like a merger or acquisition can also pose challenges to the smooth\nrunning of IT and business services.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resilience requires putting\nthe right processes, tools and technologies in place to protect businesses from\nthe scale and scope of any interruptions. In addition, a comprehensive communications\nplan that keeps external and internal stakeholders informed and supported is\ncritical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While financial losses and a\ndamaged company reputation are often cited as consequences of poorly handled\ncrises, there is another impact that gets a bit less attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The human cost of downtime <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third area of concern\nuncovered by this study, is the scale of the challenge business leaders are\nfacing mentally and emotionally. It comes hot on the heels of \u2018burnout\u2019\nbecoming a legitimate medical diagnosis listed in the World Health\nOrganisation\u2019s handbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of technological\ndisruptions, 54% of respondents admitted to suffering from stress-related\nillnesses and\/or damage to their mental well-being in the event of a crisis. In\ntoday\u2019s hyper-connected world, with the C-suite inextricably tied up with brand\nidentity, our findings highlight the extent to which senior executives are\nlinked to their company\u2019s resilience \u2013 or lack thereof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, 49% of CEOs have\nbeen affected by stress and mental health issues, rising to 62% amongst CIOs\nand CTOs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, with business\nleaders more extensively profiled online today, a contributing factor to their\nstress and mental well-being is the abuse these executives receive across\nsocial media platforms from those who hold them accountable for technology\ncrises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just over half (53%) report\nabuse online or verbally and, in some cases, even physical threats. Moreover, a\nfifth (20%) also report this abuse extends to their family and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research also revealed\nthe negative personal impact technology crises can have on a firm\u2019s leadership abilities.\nSome 30% of executives find strategic decisions more difficult to make with 24%\nfinding it harder to provide clear direction for the business \u2013 putting the\nfuture of their jobs into question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This revealing insight into\nthe mental state of the C-suite demonstrates why business strategy must go\nbeyond ensuring a robust and agile infrastructure. An organisation operating\ntoday needs to also ensure the resiliency of those responsible for resolving\nmajor crises.  Accordingly, executives on the front line\nneed to be armed with the right counsel and support to navigate disruptions more\neffectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How organisations can tackle\nthis now    <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies must take steps\ntoday to minimise risk and adapt to disruptive events by embedding resiliency\ninto their environment \u2013 making their business and IT operations more\navailable, safe and agile:<\/p>\n\n\n\n