Re: Disaster Recovery Budget

Posted by Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI (24.151.30.42) on February 17, 2006 at 15:22:49:

In Reply to: Disaster Recovery Budget posted by Robert Fay on February 16, 2006 at 15:11:55:

: What is a good rule of thumb when trying to estimate an adequate DR budget. I know it all depends on how important the data is and how long a company can afford to keep its doors open with their systems down, but I was wondering if there is a popular rule of thumb. Like 20% of the IT budget or something like that.
: Thanks,
: Rob

-------------------------------------------

Rob,

I would be real careful applying a rule of thumb for budgeting. There are too many overriding factors which could dramatically affect your budget. Specifically:
- criticality - DR for an IT operation with a 5-minute recovery window is going to be a whole lot different than for an IT operation with a one-week recovery window.
- disaster recovery strategy - real-time mirroring and electronic vaulting costs are going to be much higher than for cold-site or quick-ship recovery strategies.
- a budget is a budget is a ... - what is or is not included in the DR budget often overshadows the true DR costs. Example: some companies consider off-site data storage to be an operational IT expense; others consider it a DR expense.

Yeqars ago, 1-3% of the IT budget was quoted as a so-called rule of thumb for DR budgeting; I never saw a company implement EFFECTIVE DR for that.

Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI

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Comments:
: : What is a good rule of thumb when trying to estimate an adequate DR budget. I know it all depends on how important the data is and how long a company can afford to keep its doors open with their systems down, but I was wondering if there is a popular rule of thumb. Like 20% of the IT budget or something like that. : : Thanks, : : Rob : ------------------------------------------- : Rob, : I would be real careful applying a rule of thumb for budgeting. There are too many overriding factors which could dramatically affect your budget. Specifically: : - criticality - DR for an IT operation with a 5-minute recovery window is going to be a whole lot different than for an IT operation with a one-week recovery window. : - disaster recovery strategy - real-time mirroring and electronic vaulting costs are going to be much higher than for cold-site or quick-ship recovery strategies. : - a budget is a budget is a ... - what is or is not included in the DR budget often overshadows the true DR costs. Example: some companies consider off-site data storage to be an operational IT expense; others consider it a DR expense. : Yeqars ago, 1-3% of the IT budget was quoted as a so-called rule of thumb for DR budgeting; I never saw a company implement EFFECTIVE DR for that. : Philip Jan Rothstein, FBCI

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