Business Continuity Planning Is Critical
- 65% of businesses will fail after a serious disaster has taken place.
- 40% of those businesses will never reopen after the disaster.
- 25% of those businesses will close one year after the disaster.
You may think you will be the exception to the rule! The Small Business Administration (SBA) has documented these statistics and it should scare you! Businesses usually fail after a major disaster event because of a lack of planning and preparation! Failure to PLAN for when your disaster happens means continuity of business can be interrupted. It’s critical that operations continue in some capacity, after a serious catastrophe.
Continuity can also refer to recovery, both structural and financial, after the disaster. 
What Is The Everyday “Normal?”
Part of business survival after a disaster, is being aware of what you’re actually continuing. In terms of a business, that means being aware of your day to day operations, output, and the condition of your building and any equipment you may rely on. Awareness of your building, and business means knowing details of possible risk. Elevators, electrical equipment, or food supplies can all become damaged, even in a minor earthquake, fire, or flood.
Business continuity can relate to protecting assets from damage caused by a disaster so your operations will be far less interrupted, and your losses will be minimized. Even the Federal Government is encouraging Private Sector Preparedness check out PS-PREP to help ensure your business will recover and survive.
Have a Back-Up.
In this article we focused on natural disasters, but manmade issues should also be seriously considered: vandalism, terrorism, theft and computer hacking are all forms of disasters that can have an immense impact on the ability of operate your business. In our world today, information is vital, which is why server backups of sensitive or important data should be a top priority in your business continuity plan.
Many companies need to maintain extensive customer and financial records and losing that information can mean simply being unable to legally or
logistically operate for an extended period of time, possibly forever. That’s why you should also have a disaster preparedness plan that addresses the possibility of theft and data destruction. Backup services, such as cloud storage can remotely save your information in a location far away from your own, and can protect you against these events, and against natural disasters which may destroy hard drives and servers.
Selecting a disaster recovery contractor in advance is also crucial to your survival since you will likely need a qualified, trusted company to assist you with many of the disaster events you could experience. A PREP certified contractor is an ideal contractor to select, since they fully understand the importance of quick and professional recovery so you can be back in business and overcome the disaster.
