Businesses have become dependent on LANs for essential functions. But many of these organizations have lost track of just which systems are installed and which services are running on those systems. Consequently, they are not aware of the system's critical functions or how to replace them should a disaster occur. A security manager evaluating the need for a LAN disaster management and recovery plan should begin with a quick survey of the applications residing on the LAN. If the LAN is critical to business operations and adequately protected, the security professional probably has a tough battle ahead. Because any new security initiative must compete for limited corporate funds and because LAN protection can be expensive, senior management may resist developing a LAN disaster recovery plan. The first step in winning over the company's decision makers is to illustrate the probability of trouble on the network and its effect on the organization.