CSO: Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in a Tornado Zone

Business continuity planners in tornado alley have much in common with those in hurricane areas — but also key differences. Tornadoes have smaller funnels, but can appear in groups, may feature dramatically higher winds, and can strike with far less warning than a major hurricane typically provides. Good BC/DR planning must take those differences into account in everything from employee and facility safety to network uptime.

Also see: BC/DR Challenges in a Hurricane Zone

Cancer Treatment Centers of America literally has lives on the line if something goes wrong with their business continuity plans. That’s why Chad Eckes, chief information officer of the Schaumburg, Illinois-headquartered organization, believes there is no room for complacency. Keeping things running smoothly 100 percent of the time is always the goal.

“I think you will find most CIOs will say 100 percent up time is impossible,” he said “But why would you ever target anything less than 100 percent? We have always operated well over five-nines in terms of up time. But if I were satisfied, those potential moments of down time could be the moments a patient is being impacted.”

The mission of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, according to Eckes, is to offer healing and hope to complex cancer patients. It’s a goal that everyone with the organization is mindful of, regardless of their job, he said.

more of the CSO article from Joan Goodchild

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.