Are You Ready for the Next Metaphorical Storm?
I consider myself to be an insightful planner with the best strategies in place for any unexpected circumstances, but most recently, Superstorm Sandy proved me wrong. For example, our internal server is backed up to a secondary server in Connecticut, at a second facility designed provide the utmost protection. Both servers can be accessed from anywhere, depending on security level and user interface ID.
However, the storm arrived, and both servers were inoperable for six days.
In addition, communication among staff members was difficult for several days, as some people had no access to electricity, phones, or other communication devices.
It is crucial to be prepared for the next blizzard, hurricane, or fire. But it is just as important for your business to be prepared for economic downturns, political shakeups, and other, more metaphorical storms. This is what I’ve learned from my past experiences, and will share with you:
6 tips to protect your business through times of crisis:
1) Have a backup to your backup plan: Have a secondary site in place in the event of an emergency, but considering a third contingency in a geographically different location, as well, in the event that the first and second are inaccessible. A backup of your files to an offsite location is a neat idea, but how about a third intangible backup to an iCloud or similar storage facility? Plan B is extremely important, but never forget to have a Plan C, because it will keep your business moving, despite local disruptions.
2) Be flexible: After a storm, which trees are still standing? The ones that can bend in the wind and rain. Likewise, you need to be nimble. Smartphones and tablets are everywhere today, and with a little foresight, you’ll be able to use yours to work from home, the bus, the plane, or anywhere you can access the information cloud. We no longer need to be tied to our desks to get work done, so not being able to get to our desks – or losing our desks entirely – is no reason to bring business to a standstill. Plan C is a good contingency plan for businesses that are product-driven. Remember: keeping all of your eggs in one basket might not be the best business strategy.
3) Develop creative solutions: What “everyone knows” only goes so far in times of crisis. For example, how will your clients and employees know what to do when disaster strikes? Inform your clients, employees, and suppliers of your operating strategy in the event that tragedy strikes. Another option is to implement contingency voicemails and emails today so that, should something happen, you’ll be able to inform those who need it most with just a few keystrokes, or the push of a button.
4) Protect your investments: You need to have insurance on both your property and your goods. These things should be protected physically as well, of course, but should the physical protection fail, you’ll need to recoup, not lose, as many of your assets as possible.
5) Communicate effectively among your team: Everyone should be able to contact everyone else in case of an emergency, from the mailroom to IT to reception to the CEO. Creative uses of smartphone technology, like those discussed above, are perfect for this, but so is the old-fashioned phone tree. So, accessibility to an updated company-wide directory with email addresses and phone numbers should be number one on your list.
6) “Fire drill” your staff: Thanks to regular fire drills, your employees likely know what to do in the case of smoke or flames. But do they know what to do in the case of earthquakes, hackers, superstorms, or God knows what? Once your backup plans and communication chains are in place, be sure that your staff knows the contingency plans, so that in the event of an emergency, everyone will be on the same page. And your plans should be implemented like a fire drill, on a regular basis. It could save lives, protect your business, and keep your running with little downtime.
The key to disaster preparedness is to communicate, communicate, and communicate!!!
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