Disaster Preparedness For Your Small Business: How To "Weather" Any Storm

In the event of a potential disaster, do you have a business continuity plan for your employees and your business?

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Disaster Preparedness For Your Small Business: How To "Weather" Any Storm

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In the event of a potential disaster, do you have a business continuity plan for your employees and your business? Are you backing up files on a routine basis, and could you recover them in an emergency?

On average, nearly 60 percent of businesses damaged in a disaster close after a year, according to the Association of Small Business Development Centers.

Last year's devastating hurricanes heightened awareness of the importance of disaster planning for businesses, large and small. But destruction of your company's infrastructure is not limited to natural disasters-it can happen anytime. Daily misfortunes like computer crashes, network breakdowns, and power outages threaten your business each and every day.

Having weathered four major hurricanes last year alone at its corporate headquarters in South Florida and across nearly 100 stores in the Gulf region, Office Depot has real-world experience in disaster planning and recovery. To help businesses be more prepared, the retailer has compiled "Disaster Preparedness: Advice You Can Depend on to Weather Any Storm."

"A sound contingency plan can enable your small business to respond effectively to a crisis, and prevent that crisis from becoming a full-fledged disaster," said Tom Serio, Director of Business Continuity Management for Office Depot.

According to Serio, the overarching principle in disaster planning and recovery is to protect your most valuable and irreplaceable assets: your people and your data. Among the guide's other recommendations:

• Keep contact information for employees and local emergency services, as well as key vendor and supplier information, updated and easily accessible. Establish a clear process for communications and plan how you will contact one another in different scenarios.

• Protect your business from faltering after a disaster by backing up key data at least once a week. Copy data to removable media, including DVD-R or CD-R discs, or to removable drives such as the Ativa McAfee Flash Memory Drive with anti-virus software.

• Move back-up software to a secure off-site location. Store copies and documents you use in day-to-day operations in a secure and fire-proof location like the Sentry Fire-Safe Electronic safe.

• Periodically review the data being stored on any back-up systems to ensure that the right data is being copied and that it can be restored.

Disaster Preparedness in a Post 9/11 World

So much has changed in the last several years after 9/11, and yet most businesses are still inadequately prepared for disastrous situations. Not only are they vulnerable from the threat of terrorism, but from security and natural disaster standpoints as well.

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business continuity, disaster recovery, IT services, IT security

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So much has changed in the last several years after 9/11, and yet most businesses are still inadequately prepared for disastrous situations. Not only are they vulnerable from the threat of terrorism, but from security and natural disaster standpoints as well. While a terrorist act poses a substantial threat to business operations; data loss, internal and external theft, floods and fires can be just as harmful. Unfortunately, of the few businesses that have some semblance of a disaster preparedness plan, there is still little consideration given to business continuity management. When disasters happen, not only do businesses need to be prepared to immediately offset the effects of the detrimental event, they must do so while maintaining core operating functions. Disaster preparedness without continuity management can be likened to fortifying a strategic position without a progressive plan of action. What can make things more complicated is the tendency for businesses to implement a disaster preparedness plan without fully considering the consequences.

A good disaster preparedness plan shouldn't hinder a businesses ability to continue functioning. Initiating a disaster preparedness plan that will protect the interests of the business should be an all inclusive affair, with due diligence given not only to limiting damage from the situation at hand, but to keeping operational status. Given the uncertainties faced by businesses in the post 9/11 world, continuity management can often mean the difference between success in the face of adversity or a complete loss of business. So often, companies take steps to limit their loss liability, but rarely consider the fact that most loss liability can be avoided altogether with the proper safeguards in place. A well thought out business continuity management plan, which should include a contingency centered around disaster preparedness, can prove triumphant in the face of what would otherwise be considered tragedy. As the old saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

Calculating The True Cost Of Disaster Preparedness

Small-business owners who think preparing for a disaster is expensive should think again. Being unprepared--and losing everything--can mean paying a much higher price.

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Calculating The True Cost Of Disaster Preparedness

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Small-business owners who think preparing for a disaster is expensive should think again. Being unprepared-and losing everything-can mean paying a much higher price.

For example, in July 1996, the president and owner of Brookville Mining Equipment Corporation, Dalph McNeil, faced every business owner's nightmare when the nearby creek crested at eight feet after a 24-hour downpour.

Expensive new machinery was covered in mud and a powerful current of water had swept away inventory and collapsed a 30-foot section of wall. The flood caused nearly $1.6 million in damages and losses.

After receiving a Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan, McNeil relocated his plant away from the floodplain and asked one of his employees to take on the additional responsibility of "safety coordinator."

Besides doing quality assurance and control, the safety coordinator, according to McNeil, "runs monthly meetings with representatives of the company, making sure all the employees understand the early warning and evacuation plans, and the emergency procedures."

"You can never be too prepared, as a small-business owner, for disaster," McNeil remarked. "It's something you don't want to think about. How do you carry on business as usual, as quickly as possible, after a disaster? You have to be a bit of a fatalist, thinking in terms of the worst-case scenario for your business." And while he hopes he never has to use the emergency plans he has in place, McNeil says he is now ready for anything.

Experts say preparedness starts with developing such an emergency action plan that is tailored to the company's needs and addresses several disaster scenarios. The plan should include a timetable, budget, assignment of responsibility, prevention and mitigation steps to be completed, and a list of risks and hazards to the business. It's also a good idea to encourage employee involvement in the process.

A communications strategy is a key post-disaster recovery strategy. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses for your insurance carrier, suppliers, creditors, employees and customers, the local media, utility companies, and the appropriate emergency response and recovery agencies should be updated regularly.

This list should be maintained by a key employee and a backup person. Appoint a spokesperson to get the word out that your business is still open to dispel rumors of business failure.

Making sure your insurance coverage is adequate is another issue. According to the Insurance Information Institute, a recently released survey conducted for the National Hurricane Survival Initiative (done by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research) reports that one in three residents in hurricane-vulnerable states said it had been three years or more since they reviewed their insurance coverage.

When shopping for insurance, think about property damage and the loss of revenue and extra expenses that occur when business is halted by a disaster. Business interruption insurance covers necessary expenses that occur while the business is shut down. Many business owners don't realize that basic hazard insurance does not cover flood damage. Additional purchased flood insurance is essential; most of the over $10 billion in disaster loans made by the SBA after last year's Gulf Coast hurricanes were for flood damages.

The National Flood Insurance program provides coverage to property owners. For more information, visit the Web site at www.floodsmart.gov. Flood insurance must be purchased 30 days before the disaster hits to be in effect.