SMB: What constitutes a Disaster? #in

In this economy, the line between success and failure in the SMB business sector has gotten razor thin. A few days of delayed shipments, a few days of non-production on the line, a few days of no one in the office to take orders - any one of these can lead to a disaster month and reduced cash flow. So what constitutes a Disaster?

Certainly natural phenomenon such as Tornados, Huricanes, Winter Storms like that experienced by the north eastern region of the US, Heavy rains, flooding and mud slides like those experienced in California. But even simple thunderstorms or heavy winds can knock out power in locations for days. Add to that more targeted items such as fires, roof's collapsing because of the weight of snow & ice, roofs peeled off due to high winds, or even something as simple as a car accident that took out the wrong power pole or the backhoe operator of the local sewer project that took out some important underground cables. It may not have been on your property but it is now your problem.

Some of these disasters may cause you to loose productivity for only a few hours or a day. Others can go much longer and you end up loosing a week, a month or more. Firms should take the time to determine the appropriate course of action for two or more duration outages. My suggestion is to work on your Business Continuity Plan and plan for 3 levels of disaster:
1) What will you do if you are out of operation for up to 2 days? You can let everyone go home day 1 and probably not sweat it but once you get past day 2 you probably want to begin movement towards an action plan for a temporary set-up be it another location or work from home if that is an option.

2) What will you do if you are out of operation for a week or two? Definitely need to look into a temporary work environment. Prioritize what can be done (office work, sales and accounting, etc.) versus what would take longer to set up (production floor, new warehousing, etc.).

3) The true disaster - you facility is in ruins and you won't be operating from that location anytime soon. Again prioritize what can be done from other locations, what orders can you not ship? cannot produce? Can you work from another production facility? Do you have other warehouse space you can ship from? Can you buy finished product from somewhere else to satisfy your customers in the meantime? Obviously you need to communicate with your clients and working with another vendor is something YOU want to control even if at a much reduced profit - you don't want your clients searching for other vendors on their own if you can help it.

We can help your company address your firms specific risks, come up with prioritized plans of attacks, document and teach your staff about the Business Continuity plan for your firm and give you the piece of mind so that if some disaster would occur you know your firm would be ready. Contact us at ZombieData.com and we can be sure you are prepared.

Rob Vorbroker
Principal - Zombie Data