September 11, 2001, changed the way people and businesses view the world.

The organizations most directly affected got through it – some well, some barely, none perfectly. All faced unforeseen obstacles and complications, including the impact of a rapid succession of real and threatened events.

Levels of preparedness and damage/loss varied considerably, but all major organizations successfully recovered critical business and technical operations.

But recovery for some capabilities, facilities and people is still underway six months after the attacks. Some businesses still operate in cramped, temporary quarters and will continue to do so until permanent space is ready. Some individuals still relive the experience and suffer from the physical and psychological effects.

We worked with seven organizations in New York and Washington, D.C., affected by the attacks in preparing this report. All requested anonymity. We also included data from the 230 organizations that participated in the joint Gartner EXP and Society for Information Management (SIM) Business Continuity Readiness Survey conducted in November 2001. Combined with our research from other sources, these results provide a more global picture of how organizations are responding.

The report is organized in four major sections.

Section 1: Through the haze, planning gaps were clearly visible

In the face of a disaster orders of magnitude larger than anyone had ever anticipated, many companies found that their business continuity plans were inadequate, incomplete and untested. They focused on IT assets rather than people and business processes.

"The bar on business continuity planning best practices got raised, and enterprises need to take these lessons on board so they don't have to learn them again."

Simon Mingay, Vice President, Research and Advisory Services, Gartner, Inc.

Section 2: People, workspace and telecom loss hampered recovery

People need to feel safe, have a place to work and the means to communicate to be productive. The Sept. 11 attacks disrupted all three. Recovering all three took much longer than planned.

Section 3: Effective crisis management helped

Coordinating recovery efforts and communicating internally and externally are two critical crisis management roles. Enterprises that had rehearsed crisis management plans had the advantage of an early, well-coordinated start on their recovery efforts.

Section 4: Next steps

The events of Sept. 11 raised the bar and changed the assumptions on which many business continuity plans were based. Now is an excellent time to evaluate your continuity planning, rethink your procedures and ensure responsible governance.

An epilogue and further readings follow at the end.