No matter how small your business is, you’ll come out of any type of crisis or disaster a lot better off if you have a business continuity plan in place.
You should take time before a disaster hits to make a strategic plan on how you will continue to do your business when a disaster strikes.
Let’s consider the kinds of things you need to plan for, which will vary depending on the type of business you own.
Small Business Response Plan
Even if you are just starting a business, the first thing you need to do is to look at your risks and create a risk management plan regarding how you will respond in the event of a disaster. More than likely, you’ll have a different response prepared based on the various things that can happen to you in your area in terms of natural disasters and your business risks.
Plan to Protect Your Equipment
Make a list of all the equipment that you use to do your business and anything that you use in your life that makes it easier to do your business. Make sure you have the right type of insurance that will enable you to quickly replace what needs replacing to keep working. One idea to help is to take pictures of everything you have and attach a copy of the receipt to it, so it’s easier to justify in insurance claims. You can keep physical copies, but you’re better off scanning it all and keeping it in the cloud for easy access.
Safeguard Your Data Integrity
One thing that is important during disasters is to know what is happening to your data. For example, if there is a fire that burns down the server that keeps your data, do you know if the server provider has redundant systems that enable them to back it up in an unaffected area?
Check Your Backup Systems
Every bit of content you generate internally and externally needs to be backed up. In most cases, a cloud server system can help you ensure the integrity of the data you are keeping, but you’ll want to talk to the owners to ensure that it all works the way you think it does. It might also help to create step-by-step directions on how to access information if your primary method of doing so is ruined.
Vendor and Service Provider Information
If your ability to communicate is ruined – for example, if you have all the information on your computer or your smartphone which is lost or destroyed in a disaster, how will you contact any vendors and service providers that work with you? Have a plan in place so that you can find them regardless.
Access to Funds
In any disaster, the one thing that can prevent a small business owner from success is access to funds. If you’re running a tight and lean business, you may not need much to keep your business afloat. However, if you don’t have insurance or a backup account that will let you replace your systems fast, you may lose it all due to that disaster.
Be Prepared for Anything Can Happen.
You can wake up today to a bright sunny day and end the day with a disaster. If you’re not ready, it will make it a lot worse for you and your customers. However, if you have a plan in place, you can simply pull out the plan you’ve created based on possible disaster scenarios you may face and get started with your recovery fast. It doesn’t matter if your business consists of one person or 100 people – a business continuity plan will ensure that you can keep your business going no matter what.
BCP-AU provides services in Business Continuity Planning and advice to help build organisational resilience into your small business. If you are an entrepreneur or small business, we will help you with risk management ideas to improve your current business plans. To find out more, make an appointment with us to discuss how we can help to build resilience into your business at: www.bcp-au.com/bookings