7 Ways to Prepare Your Small Business for a Natural Disaster Natural disasters can be particularly devastating for small businesses. With the right recovery plan your business can recover after a disaster. These tips are designed to help ensure your business has a path to recovery. If you need assistance preparing for or recovering from a disaster call your law firm. 1. Develop a disaster recovery plan. Include detailed plans for communicating with and keeping customers and employees safe. The plan should lay out a path towards temporary short-term recovery and ultimately sustained long-term recovery. Keep copies of the plan, both physical and electronic, in multiple locations. Review and revise your plan yearly. 2. Train employees on your disaster plan. Everyone in your business should understand their role in the event of a disaster. Train all new employees and periodically review procedures with existing staff. 3. Review your business insurance. Not all business insurance covers natural disasters and some types of coverage can be prohibitively expensive. It is important to consider the needs of your business and the likelihood of a disaster affecting your business. 4. Review your lease and talk to your landlord. If your business rents office or retail space it is important to understand the responsibilities of the landlord and their plan for recovering from a disaster. 5. Talk to your vendors. Without key vendors many businesses would quickly sink. You should keep an open line of communication with your vendors and understand their own disaster recovery plan. 6. Back-up your business data. Offsite computer backup and storage is now more affordable than ever. Make sure all of your vital data is recoverable in the event of a disaster. Keeping your data in only one location is asking for trouble. Offsite cloud backup allows you to easily retrieve your data if your main office or data storage is destroyed. 7. Make sure you have access to the necessary capital to recover. Many businesses fail after a disaster because they do not have the money to make it through even a brief shutdown. If your business needs assistance after a disaster you may be eligible for a short-term low interest business recovery loan. Talk to your law firm to find out what options are available. bit.ly/A9kQ5E
Posted on: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 17:27:34 +0000