DISASTER STRIKES
Business Continuity:
Are You Prepared If Disaster Strikes?
BY: JANICE CAMPBELL, KNIGHT ARCHER
INSURANCE
From fires to floods to hurricanes, disaster can strike anytime, anywhere, and often with little to no advance warning. According to the Insurance Information Institute, as many as 40 percent of businesses forced to suspend operations due to a natural or human-caused disaster never reopen their doors.
Try to imagine the challenges your business would face in the wake of a natural disaster like the British Columbia fires of 2017 or Hurricane Harvey or Irma. It’ s scary to even consider. Now here’ s something even scarier: a relatively minor fire or flood that forces you to shut down operations carries many of the same challenges as a disaster on the scale of these fires or hurricanes.
Your commercial property insurance policy would help you rebuild your physical infrastructure, but are you equipped to deal with lost revenue and mounting expenses while you work to restore operations?
PLANNING FOR THE WORST The difference between surviving a business interruption and going belly up often hinges on one factor: preparation. The best way to prevent a disaster from putting the future of your business at risk is to have a proper continuity plan in place. Business continuity planning involves the following:
1. Defining potential risks. All types of threats must be considered.
2. Determining how those risks will affect operations. Dependencies and interdependencies should be carefully analysed.
3. Implementing safeguards and procedures designed to mitigate those risks. For example, alternate sites for IT backup should not be situated close to the primary site.
4. Testing those procedures to ensure that they work.
5. Periodically reviewing the process to make sure that it is up-to-date
Start the process by establishing a planning team tasked with developing the continuity plan. These are typical goals of a continuity plan:
• Protecting the safety of employees, visitors, contractors, and others. Planning for employee support after such an event is important.
• Maintaining customer service by minimizing interruptions or disruptions of business operations. Do you have a backup location on retainer for quick relocation and setup? Is your telephone system able to be redirected to avoid communication disruption?
• Protecting your organization’ s brand, image, and reputation.
Implementing the plan means more than simply exercising the plan during an emergency. It means acting on recommendations made while defining the potential risks, integrating the plan into company operations, training employees, and having an ongoing evaluation of the plan with adjustments made as necessary. And keep a copy of the plan stored at a secure off-site location.
No business owner wants to think about what would happen if disaster strikes; however, it is a reality that all business owners must face. Knight Archer realizes it can be a daunting task to plan for a major business interruption— but it doesn’ t have to be. We have a suite of industry-leading tools and resources that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of your business. Let Knight Archer make life easier for you. +
Janice is a local Regina broker, with 32 years of General insurance experience providing advice to business owners.
26