If you own a car, you probably have a spare tire in the trunk in case you get a flat. Why not apply the same forethought to your business? Although disasters can't be avoided, the problems they create could be reduced through advance thinking and planning.
A disaster is anything disrupting your business flow, such as a snowstorm, earthquake, fire, or power outage. "Without careful planning, most organizations do not survive a major interruption in the operation of their business," write co-authors Michael Wallace and Lawrence Webber. Drawing on years of experience as consultants to the field, their how-to manual takes readers through a step-by-step process for developing and implementing a disaster recovery program.
The main sections of the book focus on three areas: detailing the steps required to create a plan, identifying the company's assets that need to be protected, and creating a plan for preventing potential disasters. Included is a CD with templates of forms to help facilitate the steps.
A nice side benefit to conducting this kind of program is that it often helps managers understand their businesses better. "The analysis required invariably uncovers inefficient or unnecessary activities within the organization," say Wallace and Webber.
So who do you call when the lights go out? It may seem like a simple question, but the response time in just getting the answer can have huge implications for businesses even before the electricity is restored to computers and facilities. Whether on a large or small scale, any size business needs to be responsible to its customers and employees by taking immediate action to recover from the event and get back into operational mode.S. J. Johnston