Wayne, Pa., February 5, 2010 — Saying a disaster can happen “anytime, anywhere,” Ret. Lt. General Russel Honoré, who is best known for his management of recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, urges individuals and organizations to improve preparedness in a new SunGard Availability Services interview.
The interview with General Honoré, CNN contributor and author of Survival: How A Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family From Disasters, presents a call to action for people and companies to ready themselves for unexpected and uncontrollable events.
General Honoré counsels organizations to move to the “left side of the disaster” and focus on preparation, not just response. In doing so, the General sees companies can achieve both readiness and financial gains, “Every dollar spent on preparation can save you nine dollars in response costs. Companies should be looking to build a resilient business that has disaster-ready people.”
According to General Honoré, one step essential to improving preparedness is testing. “It is imperative to test your disaster plans, and do it working under the worst case scenarios. If one of your biggest threats is a power outage, conduct your exercise without power. The organizations that take the time and develop the expertise will become better prepared. And that needs to become a priority for more CEOs.”
General Honoré will deliver the keynote address at the 2010 SunGard Business Continuity Software International User Group Forum. The forum, organized by SunGard Availability Services, will be held in Orlando, Fla. on April 10 – 14, 2010.
About SunGard Availability Services
SunGard Availability Services provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software to more than 10,000 customers in North America and Europe. With five million square feet of datacenter and operations space, SunGard assists IT organizations across virtually all industry and government sectors to prepare for and recover from emergencies by helping them minimize their computer downtime and optimize their uptime. Through direct sales and channel partners, we help organizations ensure their people and customers have uninterrupted access to the information systems they need in order to do business. To learn more, visit www.availability.sungard.com or call 1-800-468-7483.
About SunGard
SunGard is one of the world’s leading software and IT services companies. SunGard serves more than 25,000 customers in more than 70 countries.
SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector. SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.
With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 435 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and services company on the Forbes list of private businesses. Based on information compiled by Datamonitor*, SunGard is the third largest provider of business applications software after Oracle and SAP. Continuity, Insurance & Risk has recognized SunGard as service provider of the year an unprecedented six times. For more information, please visit SunGard at www.sungard.com.
* January 2009 Technology Vendors Financial Database Tracker http://www.datamonitor.com
Trademark Information: SunGard and the SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.