It's your Responsibility to Prepare Your Business for a Disaster

3/16/2021 (Permalink)

The world is changing at an unprecedented pace. For a variety of reasons, officially declared major disasters have almost doubled since the 1990s. This impacts everyone, everywhere, and Oviedo, FL, is no exception. If you own or manage a business, there’s no excuse not to have a plan for disaster preparedness.

Disasters Come in Many Shapes and Sizes

There are so many potential disasters that no one can be fully prepared for everything. However, it’s entirely worthwhile to develop business preparedness for the most common types of catastrophes. The three main areas of disaster to plan for are

• Technological Disaster
• Manmade Disaster
• Natural Disaster

Technology is Your Friend – Until it Isn’t 

The information technology that’s now essential for virtually all businesses has a nasty tendency to break down. If you haven’t developed disaster preparedness for losing some or all of your files and hardware, you’re likely to pay a terrible cost eventually. Back up everything constantly to the cloud and use a tape backup once a day or more.

Manmade Disasters Are Often the Bitterest 

When someone’s carelessness or bad intent causes the disaster, it can feel very personal. A virus attack, ransomware, or vandalism all are intrusions into your life, and a single internet crime aimed at a company can bankrupt it unless you’ve consistently backed up everything possible. Vandalism is harder to stop but typically easier to fix with insurance.

Natural Disasters Can Be Survivable 

If you’ve planned for all the major natural disasters, you’re likely to face and kept all key employees informed and prepared. You have an excellent chance of your business bouncing back. Having effective disaster preparedness isn’t a matter of luck; it’s the result of doing some basic research and practicing how you and your employees will respond.

FEMA has excellent resources for recovering after a disaster. Their business disaster planning handbook is accessible to everyone and is a relatively quick read. Once you’ve had storm damage, a restoration company can then take over the process. They’ll help you with insurance forms and rapidly develop a plan to get your company back to full functionality.