Ernst & Young partner SUZANNE M. RAY says that pre-9/11, companies’ disaster plans focused on internal events like facility shutdowns but have since spotlighted external factors: “Companies’ supply chains are very critical areas to them. Vendors and suppliers that retailers are doing business with, especially if they’re sole suppliers or vendors, have got to have a plan.” Ray says that firms are now adopting a top-down executive approach, elevating responsibility for business continuity, and are responding to the need to establish better crisis management programs. In addition to spreading out critical operations across different locations, companies are integrating business and IT functions so that “the right hand knows what the left hand is doing.”