Disaster Recovery Expert Cites Sept. 11 Attack

Los Angeles (June 17, 2002)-- The importance of safeguarding backups of work documents is among several disaster recovery lessons the accounting industry should take away from 9/11, according to a technology consultant speaking at the California Society of CPAs' Accounting and Business Conference.

"Make backup files and keep them off site, whether it be in your home, your car or a bank vault," said Jerald M. Savin, chief executive of Cambridge Technology Consulting Group in Santa Monica, Calif. He noted that many of the World Trade Center victims kept their backup files on site, where they were destroyed along with the originals.

Other key lessons from Sept. 11 that Savin cited include cross training personnel in the event that a disaster incapacitates people with key skills. He also noted that Sept. 11 underscored the importance of using outside resources to assist employees who may have trouble functioning after a workplace emergency.

Safeguarding backups applies to both computer and paper files. Savin noted that the key business losses by occupants of the World Trade Center included documentation on projects under development.

--John M. Covaleski

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