Protect your business continuity with a disaster plan
Business continuity and disaster planning go hand in hand. When preparing for disasters, business owners often think about emergency numbers, evacuation plans, and insurance issues. But what about the technology in your offices? Do you have a plan to preserve important printed and structural materials? Do you know the technological risk of your company?
Technological risk assessment
The first step in assessing a company’s technology risk is to create inventories of computers, software, and other electronic items that may need programming. After a disaster, applications and hardware may need to be reinstalled and replaced. Having a list of hardware, legal licenses, applications, and software can help a business create recovery budgets.
Your inventory spreadsheet may include information such as: name/type of electronic equipment; who uses it (for example: the CEO’s desktop computer); equipment location, RAM; processor speed; the operating system (for example: Linux, Windows, Apple, etc.); disk size; server information; date and place where the item was purchased; and accompanying hardware.
Risk assessment of printed and structural materials
Evaluate what can be done to prevent a disaster in your offices. Many business owners plan for major natural disasters, but fail to prevent more common mishaps like fire, water leaks, and mold damage.
Think about what printed materials would devastate your business if they were lost. These documents may include deeds, client files, architectural plans, models, tax documents, x-rays, photographs, etc. Put these documents in a safe place (perhaps off-site).
Also, identify the hazards in your workplace. Are candles allowed? Are the fire extinguishers within sight? Are there leaky windows or puddles of water outside the building? Is the office weatherproofed for the winter so the water pipes running overhead don’t burst due to sub-zero temperatures?
Backups
All companies should back up data at regular intervals. There are many ways to do this: on CD or DVD, on an external hard drive, or even online. Many companies even maintain backup storage offsite in the event of an office fire.
When planning data backups, think about: What information is the most important to save? How often will this information need to be backed up? How long will you keep electronic files? If a file is lost, can it be quickly recovered?
Don’t Forget Disaster Recovery Planning
No matter how well prepared you are, sometimes disasters happen. Designate a backup workplace in case the office becomes uninhabitable. Disaster planning should also include recovery plans. How long will it take to be operational again? Where will all the equipment, new or old, be installed after a disaster?
Have the contact information for a disaster restoration specialist on your list of important business numbers. These professionals will help ensure that the repair job is done right the first time so that secondary problems (like mold from water damage) don’t show up in the future. Document restoration specialists can help companies get back to business quickly. Specialists can restore items such as photographs, books or documents, and even x-rays.
It’s not nice to think about worst case scenarios when it comes to planning the future of a business. However, when it comes to business continuity, not thinking about planning for the worst is foolish. Protect your business assets: prepare for technological disasters.
~Flora Richards-Gustafson, 2009