Contingency Planning – More than Backup
Yesterday, my post talked about the need to back up your data on a regular basis. Having access to your information is a key starting point, but surviving a crisis requires more than just data recovery.
Your disaster recovery plan should also include:
- Where you will operate if your office is damaged or destroyed.
- How you will finance equipment replacement. Do you have adequate insurance to replace office furniture, equipment, inventory and other assets?
- How you will cover business expenses. Continuity insurance provides additional insurance to cover expenses such as moving, or damages caused by missed deadlines.
- Documentation of everything you own. Even if you have adequate coverage, most policies require a detailed list of what was lost, damaged or stolen.
- Who will take care of your customers if you can’t. In the event you can not complete a project or meet a deadline because of the business interruption, do you have a relationship with someone else can serve your customers on a short term basis?
According to the Financial Planning Association, of the businesses that suffer a disaster, 40% fail to reopen and 25% that reopen close within a year. Plan ahead!
Disaster may never strike, and you may never need to execute your plan. But if something does happen, a well thought out plan, will help you through the transition, and increase the odds that a temporary business interruption does not become a permanent one
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Hi, Lorraine. Thanks for posting this follow-up to your previous article. For the past 5 years, Continja has been working with organizations specifically in risk management and business continuity planning. One of the first hurdles we almost invariably encounter is demonstrating that while computer systems and data are important and protecting them is crucial, it is generally only a small part of a continuity and recovery plan.
Every organization should have a continuity program, and it’s important for business owners and senior managers to realize that their computer systems are generally NOT the business. Instead, these are tools that allow them to perform processes, and those well-defined, repeatable processes drive the business and keep customers happy. Those processes can be interrupted by any number of events or other reasons that ‘a good backup’ or even a ‘hot site’ cannot fix on its own. A technology-focused continuity strategy usually leads to a false sense of security and the company becoming one of those statistics you mentioned.
Chad,
Thanks for the excellent explanation of all the elements a contingency plan provides.