Is Your Business Prepared for a Disaster?
Develop a Continuity Plan Now, Before It’s Too Late
Hurricane season is rearing its head once gain. Back in 2004, the Space Coast suffered through the consecutive strikes of Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne and, as a result, many of us refocused on hurricane preparedness. The question is: “Does your contingency plan encompass everything it should?”
Though hurricanes are definitely a threat to Florida commerce, they are just one peril that can disrupt daily operations and potentially devastate a thriving business. Lightning strikes, fire, telecommunication line breaks, flooding, theft, hardware failures, software corruptions, and disgruntled employees are far more common causes of business interruption.
To reduce the impact of threats that are likelier to damage your business on a day-to-day basis, don’t just think “hurricane preparedness,” think “business continuity.” A good business continuity plan employs best practices in both outage prevention and operational continuity for technology and staff.
Action Plan
- Review your business plan, identify the technology area(s) that are crucial to the continuity of your business, and take proactive measures to minimize service interruption.
- Learn from the mistakes of others. Research businesses similar to yours that have gone through disasters or service interruptions and see how their plans faired.
- Develop an emergency staffing schedule and share it with all employees. Be clear in defining expectations and responsibilities.
- Consider your businesses’ dependency on the Internet and define an “acceptable service interruption” for your business. Once defined, consider possible network improvements including redundant Internet feeds from different providers, generator power, or offsite hosted services.
- Maintain and test your electrical generator, on a regular basis, if you have one. Set up a contract with a defined service level agreement for fuel delivery during a storm or disaster with a primary, secondary, and even a tertiary provider.
- Analyze core business services and development plans for relocating these services to alternate sites in the event of an extended outage. This may include a secondary “hot site” for your core business operations and technologies as well as telecommuting options for staff.
- Review your data protection plans. Make sure corporate data and computer server images are safely stored offsite and that data backup media, installation media, and proof of software licensure is easily accessible in the event that software and data has to be restored to new computers.
- Make copies of insurance policies, contracts, and vendor agreements that may be required in the event of a disaster. Include employee and vendor contact lists and store copies where they will be easily accessible beyond the “disaster zone.”
- Define a financial plan that makes funds available during a disaster. Consider how you will pay your employees, vendors, and distributors during extended outages. If you have to relocate staff to an alternate site, how will they be transported and their travel expenses covered?
- Investigate partnerships with peer businesses outside of your local area where you can share resources during a disaster. Reciprocal arrangements can benefit both organizations, save money, and provide viable long-term continuity strategies.
- Set up disaster-ready communication options. Consider emergency communication solutions, such as cell phones and satellite or terrestrial radios, and secondary email or telephony services hosted outside of your local area. Be sure to include customer notification and communication processes so they understand what is going on.
- Educate yourself and your staff on business continuity practices and make these practices a key part of every business planning element. Develop formal policies and procedures that can be accessed from anywhere and define “chain of command” structures that can accommodate missing staff or stand-in coverage by less-trained individuals.
- Test your plan before you need it! Consider quarterly meetings where common disaster scenarios are outlined and predefined processes are tested. Conduct periodic drills making the scenarios as real as possible. Reward participants for “successful” outcomes.
The Bottom Line
You’ve probably heard the old adage, “People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.” When it comes to business continuity and minimizing the impact of business disruptions, this is certainly the case.
Intellectually, most business owners and stakeholders understand the importance of disaster recovery and business continuity planning. However, actually committing time and money often takes a backseat to the continual parade of higher priority items. That is, they’re higher priority until something happens that significantly disrupts business operations – then it’s too late.
Of businesses that experienced a significant loss of data, 43% never reopen, 51% close within two years, and only 6% survive long-term. Take action now to prevent your thriving business from becoming another statistic.
