March 27, 2014
Every business is at risk. And, that potential risk can have many faces. Fires, floods, snowstorms, theft and data loss are just a few of the ever-present threats small business owners face. Every business, large or small, needs the right business insurance so they are protected against loss. Small businesses are at particular risk for the very reason that they are small. But, like any other aspect of running a business, the key to survival is preparation.
Small businesses are particularly vulnerable to failure when they're impacted by significant events. Small businesses need to recover in a timely fashion, because your fixed costs continue even when you are not open for business.
Take the following steps to develop a formal disaster recovery and continuity plan for your business.
- 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.
Unfortunately, disastrous events do happen. If and when they do, you will only get one chance to do it right.
For more information on business insurance, contact TriState Business Insurance.
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