Disaster can strike at any time, bringing your business to a standstill. Flood, fire, theft, human error – all of these are examples of events that can interrupt your business sufficiently to stop you in your tracks. Planning for such eventualities will help you deal with them effectively when (and if) they do happen.
Your disaster recovery plan should focus on your priorities and actions in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, while a business continuity plan looks at the longer term activities to get your business back on track and in the same position it was in before the disaster occurred. It’s important that your disaster recovery plan is robust and realistic as experience shows that the actions you take in the first 24 hours after a disaster fundamentally affect the long term outcome of whether your business fails or survives.
With this in mind, what should your priorities be in the first 24 hours after disaster hits your business?
Your number one concern has to be the safety of everyone in the building. Make sure everyone is accounted for: employees, customers, suppliers and any other visitors. It’s important to keep a record of everyone on the premises so that you can quickly establish if anyone is missing.
Once you know everyone is safe, assess the situation and take all the necessary steps to contain the disaster and prevent further damage. Call the emergency services and, if it is possible and safe to do so, salvage what business assets you can and get them out of harm’s way.
Your next priority is to contact your customers, starting with those that are most important to the continuing success of your business. It’s important that you do this within the first few hours as, in our experience, it won’t take long for your competitors to get wind of what’s happened and start trying to steal your customers off you. If you are able to speak to your customers first and give them the reassurance they need, they are more likely to stay with you and this will be crucial to the success of your business in the long term.
If you are heavily reliant on suppliers, you must also contact them as a matter of urgency to ensure a smooth ongoing supply of goods to your customers.
Your focus should then turn to finding alternative business premises. It’s all very well making a few urgent calls from your mobile in the immediate aftermath but this is not sustainable. Establishing a new base and getting your IT systems back up and running will mean you can get the business back to a state of normality. The sooner you can do this, the better chances your business has of recovering back to pre-disaster levels.
Your disaster recovery plan could cover off the actions required to undertake each step. If this seems daunting, don’t worry, help is at hand. Why not use the services of specialist disaster recovery provider, First Recovery? In the event of a disaster, they will deploy a specialist disaster event manager to support and guide you through the whole process, arriving by your side on the same day if you contact them before midday. They will find you alternative premises and get you installed with your IT systems back up and running within 24 hours. This peace of mind and specialist support will set you back for less than £1,000 per year. Why not take a closer look at what they offer?