Survey Reveals Top Practices and Trends in Business Continuity and Risk Management;...

BEDFORD, Mass. -- EnvoyWorldWide(R), the experienced provider of enterprise notification services, today revealed the results of its second annual survey, Trends in Business Continuity and Risk Management, including the top priorities in and threats to business continuity. Commissioned by EnvoyWorldWide

in conjunction with Risk Solutions International, this blind survey was conducted among members of several business continuity organizations including the ACP Chapters in Washington and Utah, the Business Recovery Managers Association (BRMA), the Contingency Planning Exchange, New England Disaster Recovery Information Xchange (NEDRIX), and the Three Rivers Contingency Planning Association (TRCPA) for a regional cross-section of BC managers.

The EnvoyWorldWide survey was designed to identify business continuity and disaster recovery practices and trends as well as to compare trends to those uncovered in the initial survey conducted in May 2004. Key findings of the survey include:

--  Top trends in 2005:

        1. The management of the business continuity process has
            evolved into a collaborative initiative within
            organizations rather than a siloed activity.
        2. Regulations and customer requirements drive companies to
            complete, test and distribute their business continuity
            plans.

            --  Over seventy five percent of the companies surveyed
                cite federal, state or industry regulations directly
                affect business continuity initiatives.

            --  Sixty six percent of the respondents observe an
                increased interest in their business continuity plans
                from their respective customers while sixty eight
                percent have seen BCP requirements in RFPs and RFIs
                received.

        3. The number of companies that migrate manual calling
            solutions to automated notification solutions has
            dramatically increased.

            --  Top threats to business continuity in 2005 (including
                percent of respondents rating each as an "extreme
                threat"):

                1. Data security (virus, denial of service,
                    unauthorized access) failure (62%)

                2. Data center hardware/software failure (58%)

                3. Telecommunications failure (56%)

In comparison to last year's trends, the mix of threats is consistent with a few notable changes. The threat of natural disasters characterized as extreme has increased 73 percent since last year, attributed to the recent unsettled weather conditions suffered across the country and around the world. Data security remains the number one concern, demonstrating 11 percent growth over last year's data.

"The threat of interruption and the need to respond promptly has manifested itself into two 21st century developments - a vast increase in regulatory requirements and a mandate from customers that there be actionable business continuity plans in place as a prerequisite for doing business," explained Alan Berman, executive vice president, Risk Solutions International. "As supported by this survey, in these days of uncertainty, business continuity, which was once a 'nice to have' feature, has now become mandatory to maintain customer confidence and a competitive edge."

Company stability, experience and features emerge as primary vendor considerations for companies when selecting a business continuity/disaster recovery provider. Because these vendors are responsible for maintaining continuity of operations for their customers, vendor continuity is a key concern in the selection process. In the selection of a notification provider, company stability, experience and reputation are deemed the most important criteria, speaking to the need to trust that the provider can guarantee message delivery when an unplanned event occurs.

The survey finds that 87 percent of those surveyed regard communications as a core component to their business continuity plan. Forty one percent of respondents reported reliance on manual call trees, a substantial change from the 94 percent that relied upon manual solutions at this time last year. Furthermore, the survey found a noticeable trend towards implementing hosted notification services rather than on-premise or home-grown options.

"With the increasing cost of downtime and frequency of incidents, the need to prepare for unplanned events of all types is imperative ," said Ben Levitan, president and CEO, EnvoyWorldWide. "Our research reinforces the need to have a business continuity plan in place, test it, and collaborate with a trusted, experienced partner to assist in the continuity of operations and communications when an event occurs."

Survey Notes:

(a) A comprehensive report of survey results is available: http://www.envoyworldwide.com/form/press_survey.shtml

(b) Sample - Business continuity professionals throughout the United States

(c) Date - March/April 2005

About EnvoyWorldWide

Headquartered in Bedford, Mass., EnvoyWorldWide provides enterprise notification services leveraging the industry's most proven and reliable communications network. Organizations utilize EnvoyWorldWide's patented automated notification and message delivery solutions to drive proactive customer interactions, facilitate business continuity initiatives and streamline overall outbound communications efforts. EnvoyWorldWide communication-enables enterprises to facilitate personalized, fully interactive voice and text broadcasts to landline phones, faxes, email, pagers, SMS and WAP phones, PDAs, BlackBerrys and other wireless devices. More information is available by calling 888.252.7837 or at www.envoyworldwide.com.