Weather the Storm with a Continuity Plan

Monsoon season is upon us. The heavy rainfalls that we expect this season make us think about how to prep our homes and routines. This may look like bringing in patio furniture that you don’t want to get damaged, or planning different routes to work to avoid areas that may be flooded. We take a moment to think about how to be best prepared in case we’re faced with the seasonal torrential rainfall.

Like we plan for “worst case scenario” in our personal lives, we should be planning similarly in our business/work lives. Have you thought about what your gameplan is if your server room gets flooded? If not, here are some steps that can help protect your business if disaster strikes:

1. Determine your greatest risk. Imagine a scenario where you’d have to shut down your business for the day. Is this due to frozen pipes, fire damage, or loss of your computer network? Think about the building where you conduct business and determine what the biggest damage risks may be. With enough time, you’ll be able to make the necessary upgrades to protect against potential damage.
2. Establish your Power Needs. Find out what kind of back-up generator will cover your power needs. You may need an electrician to help you determine this.
3. Create a communication plan. Make sure you have a system in place to get messages out to clients, employees, and any stake holders in your business. This can be done via texting, social media, or remoting into your email.
4. Prepare your supply chain. Disaster may strike at your primary contractor’s business. If this is the case, have established relationships with alternative vendors that you can fall back on if you need to.
5. Ensure you have adequate insurance to recover. Talk to your insurance agent about what your current policy covers and if it’s adequate in case of a disaster. SBA.gov urges you to consider Business Interruption Insurance, which compensates you for lost income in case you have to shut your business down in such an event.
6. Protect your critical data in the Cloud. What happens to all your critical data during a disastrous event? Hopefully you have a system in place that stores and backs up such data off-site. This will ensure that you still have access to all of this information, even if your physical data center is completely wiped out.
7. Test the plan. Running drills of this plan will show you and your employees areas that work really well, and areas that may need improvement.

Getting prepared with a continuity plan may seem daunting, but it is critical to protect your business. If you have any questions on how to get started, please give us a call at (915) 587-7902.