Protecting Your Business, building a disaster recovery plan

2022-08-28
By: Advocate Brokerage

When you are in the middle of a crisis, it is challenging to think clearly. If you are a business owner and disaster strikes, a disaster recovery plan is essential so that your business can successfully navigate the aftermath. We want to help you protect your business so below is a step-by-step guide to help you prepare for the unexpected such as a fire, flood, or security breach.

 

Create Your Disaster Recovery

The best way to protect your business is to take the time to prepare in advance. Creating a guide for policies and procedures to follow a catastrophic event helps to protect your assets and ensures your team knows what to do to get your business back on track as quickly as possible.

1. The first thing you need to do is to analyze your business. Look at your leadership structure, communication chain, insurance coverage and any existing plans that already exist. If you find anything that needs to be updated, it’s time to make corrections.

2. Take a closer look at your operations. Create a detailed list of your daily operations and make sure your entire team are aware of their responsibilities.

3. Identify an alternative location to run your business from should your current space become unavailable. Are your employees able to work from home? Do you have an infrastructure in place to ensure a seamless transition? Take steps to get that in place so that you have a backup plan in place.

4. Develop a plan to protect your technology and data. Make sure that all your staff members are aware of the plan.

5. Create a comprehensive safety plan. Consider places to hide, evacuation routes, first aid policies and procedures. It is very important to communicate your safety plan with your entire team. Knowing what to do in any situation will help your team feel more prepared and they will be less likely to panic should a disaster occur.

6. Once you’ve completed the steps above, it is a good idea to create documentation so that you can come back to your crisis plan and review it on a regular basis. You will also have the documentation on hand to refer to should an unexpected crisis occur. Items that should be included in your plan include:

• Details on how, when and what to communicate to staff members, customers, and local media if necessary.
• Copies of any important documents you may need as you navigate the recovery process including insurance coverage.
• A master document with important numbers and contact information for members of your team.
• A breakdown of all policies and procedures to follow, including incident-specific instructions for different scenarios like what to do in a hurricane vs. a terrorist attack.
• A clear leadership hierarchy if some staff members are unavailable during a crisis.
• A regular training schedule to ensure all staff members are familiar with the current plan and prepared for a crisis.

We are committed to helping our clients protect their companies as if they were our own. We never want to see our clients face an emergency unprepared. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call. We are always here for you.