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Business Disaster?
Won't Happen to Me
by: Denise OBerry
Copyright 2005 Denise OBerry
As fast as you can say business disaster, your business can go up
in smoke. That's what happened a while back to Castle Carpet One.
Gone were thousands of dollars worth of equipment and carpet, plus
two smaller businesses that were housed in the same building.
Luckily the owners, Larry and Diane Cox, had plenty of business
insurance to cover their physical losses. But they lost their most
important business asset - customer records - because of failed
back up systems. Rebuilding their customer base will be tough and
the long-term revenue impact is hard to measure.
With disasters like hurricanes, tornados, fires, floods and
terrorism, to name a few, it's critical for small companies to
have a disaster plan. And for companies with only one location,
it's even more important. One location companies have the
potential to lose the entire business if disaster strikes. For a
home-based business, it's even worse. You could lose your home and
your business in one swoop. Any small business owner can minimize
the damage by simply having proactive strategies in place to deal
with an emergency when it happens. What if:
- You arrive at your business to find it vandalized and all of
your customer records missing?
- Your most critical employee becomes ill and requires an extended
absence?
- Your computer hard drive (or network) crashes?
- You become the primary care giver for a sick family member?
- You become ill and can't manage your customer commitments?
- Your business becomes inaccessible because of an emergency on
your street?
What would you do? Would your business survive? What would you
grab if you had to leave your business quickly? After the
emergency, how would you communicate with your employees?
Customers? How long would it take to get back to business as
usual?
Without a disaster plan, you'll have a harder time getting back to
work. Most businesspeople think it will just take two or three
days. That's tough to do if you have no plan for action and little
money to move forward. The reality, experts say, is more like
several months and at least 25 percent of businesses that
experience a disaster never reopen.
But most small business owners just don't make time for planning.
We think it's "never going to happen to us." It could. The time to
formalize a game plan for an emergency is before it happens. Do it
now.
About the author:
Denise O'Berry is a small business consultant located in Florida.
For disaster planning tools and tips, visit http://www.myhurricanecenter.com
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