Disaster Mitigation: Maintaining Business Continuity After Internal and External Incidents

Disaster mitigation and business continuity planning remain critical issues for all institutions. Whether by acts of God or acts of man, events can occur that demonstrate the fragility of the underlying infrastructure that connects IT resources with people. Schools must have actionable plans that will support the ongoing delivery of instruction and mission-critical business functions through the entire life cycle of an event. This presentation will discuss two different types of disasters that severely impacted business operations. Middle Tennessee State University, the largest undergraduate institution in Tennessee, recently faced the prospect of extended degradation of business operations when a construction accident pulverized communications across campus. Eckerd College, a small private liberal arts college located on the water in St. Petersburg, has been confronted with the challenge of temporarily transforming the college from a small campus-based residential community into a geographically dispersed virtual community in the aftermath of repeated evacuations due to hurricanes. Lessons learned and strategies developed will be discussed.