Keep the systems running. That's the ultimate goal of any IT team, and you do your best to make it happen. But maybe the executives in your company don't care. A new survey reported on by Patrick Doherty of PC Week shows a disconnect between IT and business executives when it comes to disaster recovery preparedness.

SunGard Availability Services queried decision-makers to see if they consider information availability important to the success of their business. Yes, said 83 percent of the IT respondents and 78 percent of the executives.

But only 49 percent of executives said disaster recovery and business continuity are important to business success, compared to 74 percent of IT leaders. "It is largely because the business is not connecting the requirement to keep core IT systems and applications available with overall company success," writes Doherty. "IT systems are still viewed as a 'black box' to many business executives, especially when it comes to the dependency between systems that impact overall availability."

One resulting problem is that disaster recovery is underfunded, according to 42 percent of the IT respondents. And, it's clear executives simply don't know what disaster recovery is all about: Thirty percent admitted that they don't how often the disaster plan is tested.

As Doherty puts it, "The survey results are a call to action to IT executives on the need to educate business decision-makers on what's involved in your company's disaster recovery plans."

So true. Have you evangelized your needs to the people who actually pay for them?

-- Don Willmott