4th May (or May the 4th as it’s more commonly known on this date) is Star Wars Day for obvious reasons. The pun was first used back in 1979 when Margaret Thatcher won the general election and became Prime Minister. The Conservative party took out a half page ad in the London Evening News, referring to the day she won with the words: “May the Fourth be with you Maggie, congratulations”. And so the special commemorative day was born.
However, did you know that 4th May is also International Firefighters Day? I think most of us would agree that it’s the members of the fire service who are the real super heroes and should be celebrated on this day, rather than the characters from the Star Wars films. If you’ve ever needed to call on the services of the Fire Brigade, whether to your home or business premises, you’ll be even more of this mindset.
However, regardless of your views on super heroes, the fact is that fortunately you don’t need super powers to protect your business, just a bit of common sense and some forward planning.
Here are our thoughts on some simple steps you can take to protect your business and also help it on the road to recovery if disaster does strike:
Check you have enough business insurance
Hopefully you have business insurance in place to protect you if something goes wrong. However, when was the last time you reviewed it? And have you checked that you have everything you need? As well as protecting your employees, your offices, business assets and any vehicles you might own, you should also make sure you have business interruption insurance.
Business interruption insurance is often overlooked but should form a crucial part of your business protection. It provides financial recompense if you are forced to shut down temporarily, covering your loss of income during this period of closure.
Put a disaster recovery plan in place
The shocking truth is that 80% of businesses which suffer a disaster never recover and fail in the long term. The likelihood of this happening increases significantly for those businesses which don’t have a disaster recovery plan in place. This is because when disaster strikes, businesses without a plan don’t have sufficient understanding of what their priorities for recovery should be and lack the focus to tackle the situation head on. This means it takes their business longer to recover and experience shows that the longer the recovery period, the greater the chance of business failure.
Undertake a risk assessment
Only by building a picture of the risks that your business faces will you be able to properly plan for how you would deal with an unexpected event. It’s important to establish your business critical priorities – what do you need to do to get the business up and running again as fast as possible? Once you know this, you can create your disaster recovery plan.
Regular tests and reviews
Once you’ve built your disaster recovery plan you need to put it to the test. By testing it you’ll uncover any gaps and be able to work out if it’s fit for purpose. But even then, once it’s been tested and you’re happy with it, you shouldn’t just file it away, never to see the light of day again.
As your business evolves and grows, so your disaster recovery plan will need to adapt to the changes within your business and the environment in which you operate. It’s important that you review your plan regularly, at least once a year, and make changes as necessary. That way if and when you need to implement it for real, it will serve you well and do the job that it was intended to do.
Talk to the business recovery experts
If the thought of navigating your business through a disaster feels overwhelming, you don’t need to worry. First Recovery are disaster recovery experts who will swing in to action if disaster strikes. You can find out more about them on their website or give them a call to put a contract in place and get peace of mind.