Almost 50 percent of all small businesses permanently shut down operations after an emergency. Very few of these boutique firms have a business continuity plan that they can readily access and deploy during a crisis.
Global warming and climate change have increased the frequency and intensity of environmental hazards. Regardless of your enterprise’s geographical location, there is always the risk of a natural hazard disrupting operations.
Business continuity might not completely eliminate the impact of a natural disaster. But your organization has a better chance of staying in business if it knows how to respond to a business disruption.
So what can small business do to stay invulnerable?
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The first step towards protection is creating a business continuity process, which most small businesses don’t have.
The time frames for protecting assets, resources and data depends mainly on the type of hazard you are dealing with. For instance, if your organization is threatened by an approaching hurricane, you still have some amount of time to collect all critical documents before evacuating the location. These records include:
Receipts
Contracts
Tax Statements
Budgetary Plans
Databases – Employees, Customers, Vendors
Insurance Policies and So on
But your organization would be left with almost no time to respond if there was a building fire, because it erupts immediately and takes you by surprise.
Outline Policies for staff, Vendors and Clients
Disasters are unpredictable by nature and businesses have no control over how they evolve over a period of time. To some extent, insurance coverage can soften the blow. The damage to assets and property can be restored. But how will your business meet deadlines, address customer concerns and nurture business relationships with key partners during this slow phase of recovery? The situation can severely worsen if skilled and experienced employees decide to leave your organization during this stage.
The news of a disaster can go viral in the media as well as on the internet with multiple versions of the same event floating around. It is important for your company to touch base with customers and stakeholders before they allow themselves to be convinced by what the press tells them. And you wouldn’t want to lose your preferred clients to your competitors because you missed the deadline.
Have a separate plan for each interest group – internal staff, external vendors and customers. Contact information should be kept up to date and teams should be able to access the information no matter where they are located.
- Internal employees would be particularly concerned about what policy the company would adopt for salary payment and leave processing during a disaster
- A crisis communication strategy is crucial in the case of customers. Different customers should also be classified based on priority. Emergency plans must be in place for important orders. For instance, consider shifting production to an alternate, temporary facility while your main site is being restored.
- Alternate supplier options and backup plans become very important when vendor operations are disrupted.
Response measures need to be quick, precise and effective, despite the stress and uncertainty that is prevalent during a crisis. Create a list of all possible scenarios in which business could be disrupted. Draft standard messages for each of the three groups.
which business could be disrupted. Draft standard messages for each of the three groups.
Design a Business Continuity Capability
Business continuity is your company’s ticket to (i) survival during a disaster and (ii) a quick recovery after it has elapsed. Put together teams with key personnel who have the necessary knowhow and can execute mission critical tasks. Cross training can bridge gaps in employee skills. It also allows your organization to smoothly transition staffing shortages when employees leave the company.
Design your business continuity plan in four phases:
- Identify your most crucial business processes through a business impact analysis
- Prepare recovery measures that can be deployed during a business disruption
- Create teams who can take responsibility for and fine tune the plan
- Make employees aware of the business continuity capability that your company has implemented through training and knowledge sharing initiatives
Threat Analysis
As a small business owner, you want to be aware of all the possible threats to your business. Some environmental hazards such as fires and tornadoes are not dependent on your office’s geographic location. However, it is good practice to carry out a thorough risk assessment exercise and find out what other dangers your business is exposed to.
Is your office located in the path of an approaching hurricane?
Is the area prone to flash floods and inundations?
Can the city be the possible target of a terrorist attack?
What’s the probability of your IT systems being compromised?
Exercise Drills
Testing allows emergency teams to become familiar with the practicalities of executing your business continuity plans. You can even involve customers and third party suppliers with whom you have a close working relationship in the process.
Conclusion
Small businesses are particularly vulnerable during disasters as, unlike larger corporations, they don’t have the infrastructure, manpower or funds to negotiate the impact of business disruptions.
However, with a detailed, well prepared and carefully tested business continuity plan, your organization can effortlessly navigate the shocks of any business disruption and continue to function despite adversity.
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