Measuring the business value of availability

The availability of IT systems is a major concern to many organizations. Considering security investments, the justification of the costs of the insurance policy for the protection of availability is notoriously difficult. As security is about the state of being or feeling secure, this will give rise both to objective and subjective arguments. Denying either the objective or the subjective type of arguments will do no right to a discussion on justification of security measures. Using both types of arguments in the same case can lead to much confusion. In this research paper a combination of methods is explored to identify, develop and assess the subjective and objective arguments for justifying the costs of availability security measures. A real life case provides the necessary examples.