Preparing for Disaster

With the Icelandic ash cloud having caused major disruption travel across Europe and Economists estimating that the loss of productivity will cost the economy around £10m a day as business people are unable to travel; how has your business been affected and were you prepared?

The recent disruption to individuals and businesses highlights the need for businesses to have robust contingency plans.

You have a sales person “stuck” on continental Europe. How much is that truly costing your business, not just in terms of additional expenses for hotel bills but in lost sales hours? If that person has a clear plan of what to do in certain situations they may be able to save some of those sales. Have they been provided with a laptop and Blackberry so that they can remain in communication with potential clients and the business whenever and wherever they are? Did they remember to pack all the chargers they might need if they were going to be away longer than anticipated? Do they have an extension cord with them so they can set up an effective, efficient “home” office in their hotel room? Did they check their mobile phone was compatible with the country they were travelling to? Did they check the hotel had internet access?

If your business had a list of things it requires anyone travelling either in the UK or abroad to take with them there is likely to be the minimum about of disruption possible.

In order for your business to lose as little money as possible you need to be prepared.
It is, of course, not just “acts of God” whilst away from the office that you need to consider. These things can occur in the office too.

Is your server located near any water pipes? Are you taking daily backups of data and storing them offsite in case of a fire?

You need to have contingency plans and a disaster recovery plan in place so that if any unforeseeable circumstances do happen then you lose as few man hours as possible.

The hard part is thinking of all the unforeseeable circumstances as, by definition, they are difficult to foresee! You then need to devise ways to mitigate the risk.

Well where to begin?

Begin by walking round your office with a pen and notebook and jotting down anything you see which may be a risk. If you can get 2-3 other members of staff to also do this it can help to get as many ideas as possible down. Do not discount anything at this stage. Just get as many ideas on paper as possible.

In order to work out which risks require mitigation you need to assess each in terms of the impact they would have to business whether that be financial or reputational.

A plan must then drawn up to mitigate those risks which will have a large impact on your business. All employees/contractors of the business need to be on board and buy into the plan in order for it to be effective. Everyone must know and understand their role.

Most large businesses spend between 2% and 4% of their annual IT budget on disaster recover planning in order to prevent larger losses in the event the business cannot trade due to a disaster.

If you want assistance assessing the risks to your business, formulating a travel checklist, and drawing up a disaster recovery plan then please contact us.