DHL 2011 Annual Report Download - page 112

As an example, back in  we began formulating plans in all divisions to respond
to a pandemic emergency, including setting up an international crisis team. Although
the risk of a pandemic has declined since then, we still aim to minimise the risk of infec-
tion for our employees in the event of an emergency whilst maintaining our business
operations.
Overall, we regard the probability that the Group will experience signi cant e ects
due to downtime as low. In addition, some risks from downtime are reduced by our
insurance policies.
In addition, we use our First Choice methodology to continuously improve our
processes and align them even more closely to the requirements of customers. Should
this involve capital expenditure, the Board of Management decides on any sums in
excess of  million. Board of Management committees make decisions on investments
of more than  million, with a lower threshold of  million applying to Corporate
Center/Other.  e Board of Management members are regularly informed of invest-
ment decisions so that they can identify any signi cant risk early and take the necessary
countermeasures.
As a service provider, we do not conduct research and development in the narrower
sense.  ere are therefore no material risks to report in this area.
Risks arising from information technology
 e Information Security Committee is tasked with our Group-wide information
system security. To ful l this responsibility, it has de ned standards, procedures and
guidelines based on  , the international standard for information security
management. In addition, Group Risk Management,  Audit, Data Protection and
Corporate Security assess and monitor  risk on an ongoing basis.  e goal is continu-
ous  system operation and the prevention of unauthorised access to our systems and
databases.
Our operations can only run seamlessly if our essential  systems are always avail-
able. To ensure this, we design our systems to protect against complete system failures.
In addition to data centres in Germany, we also operate two central data centres in the
Czech Republic and Malaysia, which allow us geographical separation and local replica-
tion of systems.
Access to our systems and data is limited. Employees can only access the data they
need to do their job. All systems and data are backed up on a regular basis and critical
data are replicated across data centres.
All so ware is updated frequently to address bugs, close gaps in security and
increase functionality. We employ a patch management process, a de ned procedure
for managing so ware upgrades, to control risks that could arise from outdated so ware
or from so ware upgrades.
We make all e orts to manage the low-probability, high-impact incidents in order
to provide the high level of service that our customers have come to expect. Despite
these measures, an element of risk involving medium to high  nancial consequences
cannot be ruled out entirely.
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