Be Prepared To Overcome Catastrophe: Protect Your Business from Interruptions to Normal Operations with a Disaster Recovery Plan

No business wants to face an event that could seriously curtail or even shut down operations, but the unfortunate reality is that few businesses have plans to deal with such a disaster. It is not unusual for a business to overlook creating disaster plans. Further, companies that do have disaster or continuity plans in place often fail to update their plans on a regular basis.

You never know when an emergency will strike, and that’s why it is important for the decision-makers of businesses to spend time preparing for the possibility of catastrophe by developing an up-to-date, tested disaster plan. It could be a natural event, such as severe weather or the widespread outbreak of an illness, or it could have a human origin, such as accidental but severe property damage. Regardless, an owner, manager, or executive has to think about the many events that could either temporarily or permanently interrupt their business. In other words, a business must consider what threats exist to their normal, profitable operations.

This task may initially appear overwhelming. However, it is just a matter of considering this basic things:

• what the business does
• where the business does it
• how the business does it
• why the business does it

After these things have been considered, decision-makers should examine what could happen to stop any of these from normal operations.

Natural interruptions could be caused by wind and rainstorms, flood, snow/ice storms, earthquakes, extended or extreme temperatures, etc. Interruptions caused by human events may include fires, break-ins, mobs, sabotage, etc. Typically, a thorough consideration of problems involves identifying the worst possible things that could occur, even when the chance of this happening is remote. A single unanticipated event could cripple or even terminate a business, so you need to have a plan that contemplates a wide variety of harmful situations.

Consideration must be given to a business' physical structures and property, machinery/equipment, management, finances, employees, products, stock, finished goods, and goods in process, services, communications, transportation, contractual obligations, competition, suppliers, distribution, and so on.

Recovering from disaster depends upon many factors.

Regardless of the reason, a business suffering from a serious interruption should have one main goal: to resume normal operations as quickly as possible. Getting back into business often depends upon insurance, but other arrangements may be necessary and could even be considered more important. Contemplate plans that include the following:

• Arranging use of another location to run the business
• Having duplicates of key business records (kept at another location)
• Arranging other sources of product supplies if a key supplier's business is interrupted
• Having access to substitute production machinery
• Buying and maintaining generators/alternate sources of light and power

When considering how to deal with events that could threaten your business, the biggest disaster could be the failure to create a viable disaster recovery plan. If you need help creating this plan and investing wisely in coverage to accompany it, call Williams Insurance. With over 80 years of experience, we have the expertise you need to ensure your business survives a catastrophic event.