SunGard Availability Services Expands Continuity Management Solution with Vendor and Work Force Assessment Capabilities

WAYNE, Pa., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- SunGard Availability Services has introduced new software that helps organizations assess the resilience of vendors and readiness of employees in business continuity planning.  SunGard Vendor Assessment and Work Force Assessment software helps organizations mitigate supplier and personnel risks to help ensure speedy recovery from disruptions to business and IT operations.

SunGard Vendor Assessment and Work Force Assessment software are new components of the SunGard Continuity Management Solution, which manages the entire lifecycle of business continuity planning, testing and execution processes.  SunGard's integrated suite approach helps organizations save time with single data entry, centralized security and reporting across all continuity modules.

"Effective business continuity requires current information about the strengths and vulnerabilities of vendors and employees," said Tracey Forbes, vice president, software product development at SunGard Availability Services. "Our assessment software helps organizations improve readiness by allowing them to easily and quickly update their business continuity plans, determine the impact of the updates, and change plans to reflect new dynamics."

Rating Vendor Resiliency

SunGard Vendor Assessment software reduces the time needed to maintain vendor records by allowing vendors to make updates to their business continuity information through a standard survey.  The survey inquires about vendor business continuity plans in areas including crisis management and notification, pandemic preparedness, business operations and technology.

The software provides assessment capabilities to rate vendors based on survey responses, enabling organizations to compare competing vendor ratings and identify suppliers not complying with continuity requirements.  The assessment information can assist organizations in making decisions about vendor renewals and contract evaluations.

Determining Employee Readiness

SunGard Work Force Assessment software helps organizations evaluate their personnel's abilities to respond to business and IT disruptions.  It provides a tool for collecting and reporting critical employee information, including skills and certifications, roles in continuity activities, work-at-home capabilities, reliance on transportation methods, continuity testing and recovery experience.

The software allows personnel to review and update their business continuity plan records and assigned attributes, making it easier for organizations to collect and maintain accurate information.  It provides a centralized way to identify each employee's significance in a recovery process and identify areas where additional back-up personnel resources should be considered.  Organizations can use the records to spot where cross-training and cross-certification programs should be implemented to help improve overall readiness.

SunGard Vendor Assessment and Work Force Assessment software are available now.

About SunGard Availability Services

SunGard Availability Services provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software to more than 10,000 customers in North America and Europe.  With five million square feet of datacenter and operations space, SunGard assists IT organizations across virtually all industry and government sectors to prepare for and recover from emergencies by helping them minimize their computer downtime and optimize their uptime. Through direct sales and channel partners, we help organizations ensure their people and customers have uninterrupted access to the information systems they need in order to do business. To learn more, visit www.availability.sungard.com or call 1-800-468-7483.

About SunGard

SunGard is one of the world's leading software and technology services companies.  SunGard has more than 20,000 employees and serves 25,000 customers in 70 countries.  SunGard provides software and processing solutions for financial services, higher education and the public sector.  SunGard also provides disaster recovery services, managed IT services, information availability consulting services and business continuity management software.  With annual revenue exceeding $5 billion, SunGard is ranked 435 on the Fortune 500 and is the largest privately held business software and IT services company.

Trademark Information: SunGard and the SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

SOURCE SunGard Availability Services