DuPont’s Holliday urges focus on disaster recovery

25 June 2007 21:12  [Source: ICIS news]

WASHINGTON (ICIS news)--DuPont Company chief executive Charles Holliday on Monday urged chemical companies and US business in general to ensure that their security plans include emphasis on prompt recovery from an attack or natural disaster.

 

Holliday, who also serves as chairman of a group of business, academic and labour leaders focused on US competitive issues, said the greatest single threat to a company’s ability to recover from a disastrous event is the vulnerability of a firm’s information technology (IT) systems.

 

Speaking as the Council on Competitiveness issued its report on how US firms can enhance security and yet remain competitive, Holliday said that 93% of US companies that experienced an IT outage of ten consecutive days during the ten-year study period filed for bankruptcy within a year of their IT failures.

 

In addition, 25% of companies that experienced an IT shutdown of two to six days went bankrupt immediately, he said.

 

The report emphasized that in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and the double hurricane hits on the US Gulf coast in 2005 and amid the looming risk posed by possible pandemics, US companies cannot afford to focus on a specific set of risk scenarios and instead should take a systemic approach to security and speedy recovery.

 

Holliday said the year-long council study identified corporate resilience as the best fundamental approach to improving security without undermining competitiveness.

 

“Resilience is the capacity for complex systems to survive, adapt, evolve and grow in the face of turbulent change,” Holliday said.

 

The council is recommending that the federal government make resilience planning a criteria for companies securing federal contracts.  “This would leverage the government’s purchasing power - $400bn annually on goods and services - to meet national security goals while enhancing the resiliency of the private sector,” the report said.

 

Holliday said that in addition to the vulnerability of IT systems, US manufacturers remain vulnerable to uncertainties around the reliable supply and pricing of oil and natural gas.

 

“We need to diversify our sources, including biomass, solar and wind resources,” Holliday said.  “If we do this, we can change the energy risk factor within ten years.”

By: Joe Kamalick
+1 713 525 2653

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