What happens to your business if your building burns down?

Disaster Recovery Plan? Are You Ready?

I have compiled a couple of current articles from the website http://www.continuitycentral.com/. The first article contains information about the trends of small businesses pertaining to their disaster preparedness. The second is a check list for every business to follow. When you read these articles please don’t think “Ah my building will never burn down.” It may not but you could be flooded, hacked, malware infected, broken into and the most unsuspecting, humanly engineered. We have many more resources on our website at http://www.aperio.cc/solutions/continuity.html. Of course, we are always glad to help any small business through those tough time, but we prefer to plan for them.

Majority of US small businesses are unprepared for disasters

A national survey of small businesses conducted by the American Red Cross and FedEx Corp. Has found that while 94 percent of small business owners believe there is a potential for a disaster to seriously disrupt their business within the next two years, only 43 percent feel prepared for a one week disruption of their business, and 22 percent feel prepared for a one month disruption. Importantly, many businesses do want to become better prepared, with almost a quarter of respondents indicating they are planning on taking steps to prepare their businesses for disaster.

While small businesses have taken some steps to prepare their business and their employees in advance of a disaster, they lag behind on several important indicators. A majority of businesses surveyed have developed employee phone lists for notifications and communication during a disaster (86 percent); ensured the safety of important business files or records (75 percent); and purchased insurance for business disruption or damage (80 percent). But businesses are much less likely to have completed other important steps. Only 41 percent have taken preparedness steps based on the type of disasters common to the business location and only 55 percent have communicated with employees about their roles before and during a disaster.

Business continuity and disaster recovery checklist for small business owners

Capital One has developed a new checklist to help small businesses in the US to prepare for both large and small incidents:

1) Develop a business continuity / disaster recovery plan
- Establish a disaster-recovery team of employees who know your business best, and assign responsibilities for specific tasks.
- Identify your risks (kinds of disasters you're most likely to experience).
- Prioritize critical business functions and how quickly these must
be recovered.
- Establish a disaster recovery location where employees may work off-site and access critical back-up systems, records and supplies.
- Obtain temporary housing for key employees, their families and pets.
- Update and test your plan at least annually.

2) Alternative operational locations
Determine which alternatives are
available. For example:
- A satellite or branch office of your business.
- The office of a business partner or even an employee.
- Home or hotel.

3) Backup site.
Equip your backup operations site with critical equipment, data files and supplies:
- Power generators.
- Computers and software.
- Critical computer data files (payroll, accounts payable and receivable, customer orders, inventory).
- Phones/radios/TVs.
- Equipment and spare parts.
- Vehicles, boats and spare parts.
- Digital cameras.
- Common supplies.
- Supplies unique to your business (order forms, contracts, etc.).
- Basic first aid/sanitary supplies, potable water and food.

4) Safeguard your property
Is your property prepared to survive a hurricane or other disaster:
- Your building?
- Your equipment?
- Your computer systems?
- Your company vehicles?
- Your company records?
- Other company assets?

5) Contact information
Do you have current and multiple contact information (e.g., home and cell phone numbers, personal e-mail addresses) for:
- Employees?
- Key customers?
- Important vendors, suppliers, business partners?
- Insurance companies?
- Is contact information accessible electronically for fast access by all employees?

6) Communications
Do you have access to multiple and reliable methods of communicating with your employees:
- Emergency toll-free hotline?
- Website?
- Cell phones?
- Satellite phones?
- Pagers?
- BlackBerry(TM)?
- Two-way radios?
- Internet?
- E-mail?

7) Employee preparation
Make sure your employees know:
- Company emergency plan.
- Where they should relocate to work.
- How to use and have access to reliable methods of communication, such as satellite/cell phones, e-mail, voice mail, Internet, text messages, BlackBerry(TM), PDAs.
- How they will be notified to return to work.
- Benefits of direct deposit of payroll and subscribe to direct deposit.
- Emergency company housing options available for them and their family.

8) Customer preparation
Make sure your key customers know:
- Your emergency contact information for sales and service support (publish on your website).
- Your backup business or store locations (publish on your website).
- What to expect from your company in the event of a prolonged disaster displacement.
- Alternate methods for placing orders.
- Alternate methods for sending invoice payments in the event of mail disruption.

9) Evacuation order
When a mandatory evacuation is issued, be prepared to grab and leave with critical office records and equipment:
- Company business continuity / disaster recovery plan and checklist.
- Insurance policies and company contracts.
- Company checks, plus a list of all bank accounts, credit cards, ATM cards.
- Employee payroll and contact information.
- Desktop/laptop computers.
- Customer records, including orders in progress.
- Photographs/digital images of your business property.
- Post disaster contact information inside your business to alert emergency workers how to reach you.
- Secure your building and property.

10) Cash management
Be prepared to meet emergency cash-flow needs:
- Take your checkbook and credit cards in the event of an evacuation.
- Keep enough cash on hand to handle immediate needs.
- Use Internet banking services to monitor account activity, manage cash flow, initiate wires, pay bills.
- Issue corporate cards to essential personnel to cover emergency business expenses.
- Reduce dependency on paper checks and postal service to send and receive payments (consider using electronic payment and remote deposit banking services).

11) Post-disaster recovery procedures
- Consider how your post-disaster business may differ from today.
- Plan whom you will want to contact and when.
- Assign specific tasks to responsible employees.
- Track progress and effectiveness.
- Document lessons learned and best practices.