March 1, 2018
This blog post discusses the need for every business owner to actively strategize, document, and even practice their disaster recovery plans. Your disaster recovery plan should address not only the disaster that results from the risk of litigation, but also the many ways mother nature and life itself can throw a wrench in your ability to sustain business operations. So, here's some things to consider.
In these litigious times, every business and every business owner is at risk. In addition to those who would rather sue you for the slightest of missteps, business owners also must deal with the ever-present threat of fires, floods, snowstorms, theft, data loss, and a laundry list of other threats. Every business, large or small, needs the right business insurance so they are protected against loss. Small businesses are at risk for the very reason that they are small. But, like any other aspect of running a business, the key to survival is preparation.
Here are some considerations when drafting your business disaster recovery and continuity of operations plan:
- Assess your risks. Before you can begin creating a plan to deal with disasters, you need to come up with a list of external events that can hurt your company. Think through all the threats that could cause damage to your business, and determine how they might affect you. These can be natural events, such as a tornado or flood, or man-made ones, like robbery or fire.
- Prioritize business functions. Decide the order in which certain business operations will be and should be restored in the event of an interruption. Functions that bring in more business and generate more sales should be your first priorities. Having the proper business insurance coverage for those operations can help you recoup your losses and get the most critical functions of your business rolling again.
- Develop prevention and mitigation strategies. Once you've determined your business's most important functions, the next step is to come up with strategies around them to prevent and mitigate the various types of disasters you may encounter. For example, if electrical power is a crucial operations item, your recovery strategy should include ways to quickly correct a power failure.
- Test and maintain your plan. You don't want your first test to be the real event. When your plans are developed, test them out: Have your team walk through the steps of your disaster-recovery plan. If you can't do what needs to be done, figure out how to modify the plan so your recovery goals can be achieved.
For more information on business insurance and business disaster planning, contact your team of independent insurance consultants here at TriState Business Insurance.
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