April 9, 2018

5 Ways to Prepare Your Business for A Natural Disaster

Natural DisasterDisaster can strike any business and at any time. Natural disasters are unexpected and they catch most businesses off guard. Businesses that aren’t prepared for natural disasters incur massive losses and this makes it crucial to prepare your business for a natural disaster. Here are 5 ways you can do that!

It is often seen that when disaster strikes, businesses are simply not prepared for it.  And this results in huge losses. Even if your business is based in a state where natural disasters are not a commonplace, and the potential for a disaster is as good as zero, you should get your business ready to cope with the impact of a disaster.

Savvy business owners and managers know well that preparation is an essential ingredient for success and one that you need to pay careful attention to. So, preparing your business for a disaster is a necessity rather than an option.

While every business needs a disaster recovery plan, only a few have it. Why is that? There are several reasons for this but generally it is due to not knowing where to start. They are many variants to consider and you need to include almost all aspect of the business. While you can create the disaster plan on your own, it is best to get specialist help for it.

Nevertheless, they’re a few things that you can do on your own to get your business ready for a natural disaster. What are those things?

Following are 5 ways you can prepare your business for a natural disaster.

Create a Survival Kit

Whether you accept it or not, your employees or the people working for you are your biggest assets. So, the first thing you should think about when developing a disaster plan is protecting your employees. A great way to protect your employees/workers against natural disasters is creating a survival kit. In the aftermath of a disaster and all the chaos that surrounds it, finding and helping your employees would be difficult for anyone.

For the above reason, it is crucial that you gather food, plenty of water, first aid supplies, an emergency phone, a quality hand crank radio, and flashlights to prepare for the worst. Additionally, you can ensure that you will have enough food and water for even the longest of rescue missions by getting your employees/workers involved in the creation of the disaster plan.

Back Up All Your Data

Today, most business transactions are conducted electronically. For this reason, it is crucial to back up and save all your files and data stored on computers and/or servers. Without important financial and client databases, your business may not be able to reestablish itself.

Store your physical files in a waterproof container at the office or in an offsite facility while backing up your electronically stored data with a cloud/web service that can be accessed from any computer and at any time. Doing this is a necessity rather than an option.

Duplicate Your Physical Assets

While the companies who have their data stored in the cloud don’t have to worry about this, there are many small businesses that hold their data in local on-site servers. While duplicating your physical assets isn’t something that would be on top of your priority list, you will be wishing that you had invested in a redundant server when a natural disaster threatens your physical location.

The good news is that finding such a solution today is not that difficult. You will come across plenty of simple and affordable solutions that fulfill the above purpose. An example of this is server mirror—a network management process which enables you to continuously create an exact replica of a server. With this technique, businesses can ensure the restoration of data in case the primary server fails. This in turn ensures the duplication of the entire contents of a server, disaster recovery and backup, and most importantly, business continuity.

There are many different types of disasters that can strike your business. So, regardless of where you are based, having all your business data stored in a single location is an unnecessary risk and one that you can easily avoid.

Ensure you Have Adequate Insurance Coverage

Thinking about your insurance coverage is important when preparing a disaster plan. Sit down with your agent to discuss what risks you are covered for to determine if you have adequate insurance. Find out if you have business interruption insurance as this will compensate you for loss income in case your business is hit by a disaster.

Your business can be completely lost to a tornado, a hurricane of even a flood in the blink of an eye. This makes it crucial for you to get a quality insurance that covers you for all types of natural disaster and everything that they impact.

Create a Post-Disaster Plan

In addition to the plan for the disaster, you need to create a plan that guides you about how you’re going to move forward after the disaster. Know how you’re going to move things forward after the disaster is part of preparing for a natural disaster. Having a plan to keep your business operational after a disaster is crucial for its future survival and success.

Be ready to handle the obstacles that come your way as this will ensure that you not scrambling when a disaster strikes. There is huge value in planning ahead, and the biggest value lies in keeping up business operational after the disaster. By referring to the above information, you can get your business well-prepared for a natural disaster. Get in touch with us today to know more ways of preparing your business for a natural disaster.

by Bobby J Davidson

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