Don’t Wait Until a Disaster Strikes to Put a Recovery Plan in Place

08/12/08

Any disaster, even on a small scale, could put your business at risk. Having a disaster recovery plan in place could make the difference between keeping your doors open, or scrambling to get operational while your profits plummet.

While National Preparedness Month in September is the perfect opportunity to take a hard look at what your business needs to stay up and running, any time is a good time to address this critical business need.

Who will run the recovery effort? How will you contact your employees? What materials do you need to have on hand? Your disaster recovery plan should be affordable, easy to implement, and tailored to your company.

• Start by taking a department by department look at your company's daily activity.
• Identify the key processes that keep your company producing, selling, taking orders or providing services.
• Designate a key two person team in each department or functional area to document the steps, materials and technology needed to keep basic functions on track in a short term and long term emergency.
• Have a group meeting of all the teams to identify where responsibilities cross and where critical functions have been omitted because everyone thought someone one else was taking care of that task.
• If possible, stage a run through of the plan.
• Hold a follow-up meeting to review the good and bad aspects and to make corrections where needed.
• Maintain your disaster plan with regular updates as procedures and personnel change.
• Schedule semi-annual meetings of teams to keep everyone in the loop and up to date.

If you need help with setting up a company plan, try the Disaster Recovery Handbook It’s a comprehensive solution to help you prepare a cost-effective, easy-to-implement contingency plan your business can follow in the event of any emergency.