September is officially known as ‘Preparedness Month’. A month dedicated to ensuring people are prepared to deal with the effects of disaster. Whilst initially focusing on helping people overcome the impacts of natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes etc, it has widened its remit since inception. The awareness month now looks to help with areas such as prevention, protection, response, and recovery efforts

With this in mind, it is possible to take the sentiment of Preparedness Month and apply it to the business world.

Why is it important that my business is prepared for disaster?

If you are a small business owner, ensuring that your business could cope if hit by disaster will be key to ensuring the survival of your company.

We believe that it is always best to be prepared as you never know when disaster may strike. It might be a burst pipe which ruins your stock, a cyber attack which renders your IT systems unusable, or a fire which destroys your business premises.

How can a disaster recovery plan help my business prepare?

One way to be prepared is to put a disaster recovery plan in place. A disaster recovery plan can help you cover the four pillars of Preparedness Month – prevention, protection, response, and recovery.

Prevention – carrying out a risk analysis can make you more aware of the factors which may pose a risk to your business. Once you know what your risk factors are you can take steps to prevent them. Whilst not all disasters can be prevented, you can take steps to minimise the impact they will have on your business.

Protection – Once you are aware of the risk factors for your business and the types of disaster which you may have to deal with you can put steps in place to help protect your business against these. For example, CCTV if vandalism could threaten your ability to open your business premises, or if you are located within a flood area investing in flood protection technology.

Response – Having an effective disaster recovery plan in place which has been well tested and trialled, should enable you to have a structured and fast response if disaster does strike. Your disaster recovery plan should map out all of the steps you need to take in event of disaster, giving you and your staff purpose and empowerment in your response efforts.

Recovery – Being able to respond quickly and effectively to disaster events will aid recovery. In fact, speed of response is cited as one of the key determining factors in whether a business survives the effects of a disaster event or not. Making sure your staff are safe, maintaining and communicating with your customer base and taking steps to get back to normal operations as quickly as possible will all be important in determining whether your business recovers from the effects of a disaster.

Being prepared is key. So, this month why not take some time to review your disaster recovery plan or to write a plan if you do not currently have one in place. You don’t have to tackle this alone either. Preparedness can also involve looking for any suppliers who could support you at time of disaster. First Recovery are specialists in disaster recovery and aim to get you back up and running in temporary offices within 24 hours of disaster striking. Get in touch with us today if you would like to know more about how we can support you and help your business get prepared.