A study by FEMA pointed out the striking statistic that a small business which sustains downtime due to a natural disaster has only a 60% chance of surviving. That means that four out of ten businesses who experience loss of business will not reopen their doors. Therefore, it stands to reason that every business owner should be taking steps to mitigate loss should there be a problem.
Here in Florida, we are well aware of the possibility of hurricanes, majors storms. and flooding. We have also seen an uptick in sinkholes across the state. However, the physical on-site ramifications are not the only issues to be considered. Here are some specific areas that your business should be considering in order to protect itself.
Physical Damage
The most visible effect of natural disasters is physical damage to the location. This may include flooding of the building (or access to the building) or structural damage to the building. Hurricanes may cause downed trees, broken windows, roof leaks, or damaged on-site equipment.
Infrastructure Damage
Even if your building is not affected, major storms can cause electricity outages, regional water shortages, or cell phone tower failures. When the infrastructure becomes unavailable, your business may be compromised even if it has sustained no actual damage at its location.
Transportation Issues
If there is a disruption in transportation, your business may not be able to ship orders or receive supplies. For instance, a major storm causing flight delays across the country for several days could result in your business, which is not affected personally, to fail to operate in the most efficient manner.
After a major disaster, employees and customers may not be able to safely travel to your business location. Downed power lines, gas shortages, ice-covered roads, or a closed bridge may all restrict access.
Free eBook: Natural Disaster Survival Guide: Hurricanes or Coastal Storms
Every business has to prepare for the worst. Those that don’t may never fully recover from a disaster. But not all disasters are created equal. And not all businesses are at risk for every kind of disaster. That’s why we’ve put together this quick disaster survival reference guide to help you ensure that your business can keep operating even if a natural disaster strikes.
Drop in Sales
If your customer base is located in an affected area, they may stop buying your product for a period of time, which could cause catastrophic results.
What Can You Do?
Business continuity planning, once reserved for larger companies, compels your business to take a hard look at possible vulnerabilities in your operation. Once “worst case scenarios ” are identified, a solution is put in place in order to mitigate the ramifications should something occur. Although it is impossible to anticipate every possible issue causing downtime, you should be able to be prepared and maximize your business’ opportunity to survive and thrive.
Offsite Storage
Your data is the lifeblood of your organization -whether payroll, customer payments information, or inventory control, businesses who lose their data are at the highest risk. The very best thing you can do for your organization is to have your data mirrored and backed up. Cloud-based services are an economical and efficient way to protect your most important data.
Remote Access Capability
If your location is not accessible, allowing key employees to work from home is a great way to ensure that the most important procedures at your organization continue. Make sure that crucial employees have laptop computers and an understanding of how to access the network remotely. If you need help with setting up remote users and networks, give us a call.
Communications
When natural disasters affect your ability to operate in a “business as usual” way, it is important to let your customers know what has happened. Any customer-facing pages – websites or Facebook, for instance – should have a message explaining your situation, as should your automated phone system. If any orders will be delayed, have a way to contact affected customers to assess them of the situation and explain your plan of action.
Being upfront about what has happened is the best way to retain customer loyalty even if things have gone wrong.
The first step in setting your business up for any scenario is doing a company-wide assessment of your procedures, strengths and vulnerabilities. Document all procedures and reach out for help to local Sarasota IT professionals to make sure your netowrk is secure.
If you need help, call Alliance IT. We will help you to make sure that you never have to worry about losing your business to natural disasters.
