In the leadup to Continuity Insights New York, October 29-30, 2012 at The Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City, Continuity Insights asks presenters about their chosen topics, critical business continuity skills, how prepared we can be, and which famous person would have made a good business continuity professional. This week Mark Haimowitz, Director of Business Continuity Planning at Disney ABC Television Network, discusses how technology affects BC plans, event-agnostic disaster planning and what business continuity professionals can learn from Paul McCartney.

Continuity Insights: In New York you will present a case study outlining the strategies used by ABC Television to stay “on air” 24/7, and the complexities introduced by multi-platform viewing. How often must you update business continuity plans in order to account for changing technologies?

Mark Haimowitz: When new or revised technology is put into production we look at the implications of our backup and recovery as part of the implementation.  At a minimum plans are scheduled to be reviewed annually.

CI: Complete this sentence: To be a successful business continuity professional you must master the risk assessment, the BIA and _________________.

MH: The ability to actually listen to your client.

CI: True or false: There are some things you simply cannot plan for, e.g. the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year.

MH: True. Better to focus on the impacts of a large-scale disaster than the event itself. Prioritize the disaster impacts such as facility damages, technology failures, power outages, communication breakdowns and personnel shortages to your BCP objectives. Then decide what mitigation is needed (and possible), what are your emergency response actions (stressing personnel safety) and choose the recovery solutions that are practical, implementable, cost effective, maintainable and address multiple impacts.

CI: Which U.S. president, sportsperson or musician do you think would have made a good business continuity professional and why?

MH: Sir James Paul McCartney. Paul is a musician, singer, songwriter, composer and an artist who has remained relevant in the business for over 50 years. Staying employed and relevant are key objectives for any business continuity professional. And mastereing many talents within your field is a key to that longevity and success. Over the years, Paul has continually adapted while keeping his musical essence — the core of who he is.

CI: If you formed a band with other business continuity professionals what would you call it?

MH: Get Back

For more information on Haimowitz's presentation, as well as the full agenda and registration details, visit the Continuity Insights New York website at www.continuitynewyork.com.