Look, nobody likes picturing the worst-case scenario that could befall their business—even doing so might feel a bit like memorizing a divorce attorney's number as you write your wedding vows. However, failing to have some strategy in place could very well lead to your business’ downfall. What does it take to properly plan and prepare for the possibility of a disaster, and the associated recovery you’ll have to undergo?
Begin By Establishing the Worst-Case Scenario
To begin, it is important to have an idea of what a disaster—any disaster—might look like for your business. Put some thought to it: what is the absolute worst thing that could realistically happen to your business? Might the office be flooded? Maybe some poor workmanship in the electricals sparks a fire, or the old, neglected building next door finally collapses and takes out part of your office, where you just so happened to keep your business’ servers?
Let’s amp up the trouble a bit and assume that whatever disaster struck (flood, fire, or falling building) left your office a total loss and, to make matters worse, took a key manager or other high-level employee with it. In addition to the personal loss, this would likely create some challenges for your business moving forward.
Whatever the Scale, You Need to Be Prepared to Deal with Disasters
Whether the loss is of a single spreadsheet or a key member of your business or your business’ physical location, you need to have the means to bounce back. For this, we always recommend that a business prepare a business continuity plan.
What is a Business Continuity Plan?
You should consider a business continuity plan to be your business’ saving grace in any disaster scenario. Its entire goal is to help ensure your company has a future, that you can resume operations if and when the chips are down.
To do so, your business continuity plan will need to cover a few different aspects of your company. There are your operational aspects, of course, including your technology and your other resources, as well as your human resources to consider.
All things considered, the baseline business continuity plan will cover:
- Data required to facilitate operations
- Technology needed to access that data
- An office location or contingency plan for hosting operations
- A chain of command in the event of a disaster
- A strategy that is accessible to all employees involved in the restoration process
We Can Help You Get Started!
We’ll help you put together a strategy that will ensure that you can make it, regardless of the disaster your business faces, assisting you with the planning process and implementing the technology required to enact it. To get started, give us a call at 408-927-8700.
