Some Tips for Protecting Your Business Against Disaster *

Protecting your business is easier than you think. The business continuity planning process involves asking and answering the following questions:

• What are the risks and threats? (i.e. fire, succession plan, data loss)
• What are the core business unit’s functions? (i.e. production or offsite storage and recovery details in the case of IT)
• Who has responsibility for which areas in the event of a problem and what are they supposed to do? (i.e. define key personnel responsibilities)
• What needs to be restored, and when, and how is that to be achieved in the event of a disaster? (i.e. make checklists/procedures and facilities)
• How do we protect and safeguard our assets? (i.e. facilities/information assets)
• What procedures need to be carried out to affect recovery OR to avoid disaster? (i.e. includes mitigative or preventative steps to be taken)

Tips on Protecting Your People

• Build solid contact lists. Create Emergency Call Trees. Include names and phone numbers of employees, vendors, and emergency agencies. Have contact lists stored both inside and outside the office.
• Establish emergency communications procedures.
• Organize supplies. Ensure you have sufficient water, food, janitorial and hygiene products, and that your company has access to cash, generators, and batteries.
• Provide employee assistance. Train staff -- at least one staff member -- in CPR and first aid and encourage employees to prepare family disaster kits and have alternative family housing (See the American Red Cross materials).

 Tips on Protecting Your Data

• Perform daily back-up (including desktop and laptop systems) of business data and store in a secure remote location. (This could be a portable hard disk that can back up your entire disk drive at the touch of a button or it could be the use of an online service.)
• Passwords are used and data is encrypted on all laptops and PDAs.
• Maintain documented procedures on your IT matters
• Create and abide by information security policies and procedures no matter how few employees you have.

Benefits of Developing a Comprehensive Disaster Recovery Plan

A comprehensive disaster recovery plan can minimize potential economic loss in the following ways by: 

• Decreasing potential exposures
• Reducing the probability of occurrence through the reduction of risks such as human error
• Reducing disruptions to operations
• Ensuring organizational stability
• Providing an orderly recovery
• Minimizing insurance premiums
• Reducing reliance on certain key individuals
• Protecting the assets of the organization
• Ensuring the safety of personnel and customers
• Minimizing decision-making during a disastrous event and
• Minimizing legal liability

Other tips and planning instructions for businesses can be located on the federal government’s preparedness website: http://www.ready.gov/business/index.html

If you haven`t prepared a contingency plan, now is a good time to start. Consider using an online planning and storage tool that can help you quickly complete the steps and enables you to access the plan from anywhere (see Online Planning Software for Small Businesses). If you already have a plan in place, schedule a checkup to make sure it is up to date and in sync with your business. Conducting periodic reviews makes good business sense in turning your preparedness plan into a recovery capability.

*“Business Continuity” is the process of planning and retooling best practices to ensure that an organization survives a crisis or an impact. It involves risk assessment and risk management, mitigative and preventative action steps, and it is proactive in that it occurs before a business interruption occurs. A related term is “disaster recovery.” This is the process that takes place during and after a crisis to minimize a business interruption, ensuring a quick return to business as usual. It is reactive, with its focus placed upon activity that happens after a disaster occurs.