Here on the Gulf Coast of the US we are getting ready for the six month hurricane season, which kicks off on 1 June. AT&T just released a study of the disaster preparedness of ten US cities, ranking New York at the top, followed by Houston. According to an article in the Houston Business Journal, 78 percent of Houston's businesses are ready for a disaster. Nationally, thirty percent of the surveyed businesses have no plan for disaster recovery. Does yours?
Don't live in the path of hurricanes? How about cyberthreats such as denial-of-service campaigns, worms and viruses? How about power blackouts (fairly likely on the east coast of the US this summer)? How about the untimely death of a key employee? Disaster can happen anytime to any business.
Steven C. Preston, Administrator of the US Small Business Administration said,
"...no matter where you live, there's always a possibility of a major disaster."
Poor recovery from disasters can put employees at risk, send customers packing, and even threaten the very existence of your business. After Katrina, for example, our bank at the time (Hancock) was weeks getting back on line. Because all their data were stored in New Orleans, with no remote backup, they could not get their systems back up and running. Meantime, our money was inaccessible. Other area banks had planned better, and we took our money elsewhere as soon as we could get it out of Hancock.
Clearly, I think you need a disaster plan for your business. Here's how I'd go about putting one together (which will remind you of the Potential Problem Analysis framework developed decades ago by Kepner and Tregoe):
- Brainstorm a long list of disasters that could affect your business.
- For each disaster, estimate a probability that it will occur (you may find information to help this on the web - try Google.
- For each disaster, estimate the potential harm it could cause to your employees, to your ability to serve your customers, and to your business overall.
- Develop and implement actions to help mitigate damage and to speed recovery should a disaster occur (see below).
- Conduct regular (quarterly) tests of your disaster recovery systems. One factory I worked at conducted monthly tests of the disaster mobilization system, to ensure the crisis management team could be reached 24/7. We also conducted twice annual drills with local emergency responders.
Some of the protective actions you might consider are:
- Back up all critical data at a remote site, one that is unlikely to be impacted by the same disaster. If you have your main data center in New Orleans, for example, maintain continuously updated backup data somewhere far north of hurricane country.
- Plan for alternate supply and delivery chains, in case your normal routes are down.
- Consider backup generators for critical functions, and remember to stock fuel to get you through significant supply disruptions.
- If your plan includes moving some staff to safe locations in order to keep the business running remotely, make the move before the roads get clogged with evacuating residents.
- Run regular drills.
- Determine how you will find and communicate with employees.
- Form, train and drill a crisis management team.
[Stunning graphic downloaded from Microsoft Office Online Clip Art site.]
Oh, I almost forgot! Today is my blog's one year anniversary. Happy birthday, dear blog.
