Released February 19, 2009
STILLWATER, Okla. – It is just about a guarantee that every business owner will at some time experience a disaster. It may be small such as a water pipe break or total business devastation. A disaster recovery plan may be the key to survival if hard times hit your business.
Keys to a disaster recovery are first to evaluate your business and make a plan on how to get things up and running again and second to ensure that all of the pre-disaster planning elements are put into place. Make sure crucial files are duplicated and kept at an off-site location; that backup power supplies, if needed, are actually available; and that you know how to get inventory, equipment, etc. back in place so that you are ready to do business.
“Business leaders often fall short of keeping their business recovery plans up-to-date,” said Glenn Muske, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension interim associate dean, assistant director, family and consumer sciences. “It is important that a business takes the development and maintenance of the disaster recovery plan seriously. A serious incident could occur at any time.”
Muske said management and staff should not only be informed that a plan is in place to ensure necessary tasks of the organization are able to continue in case of an emergency but their respective roles and responsibilities in the plan. .
“When getting started it is important to create a list of all necessary documents and information,” he said. “The plan should include an explanatory list of the major business areas. The list should rank the areas in order of importance to the overall business.”
Muske said the following questions are important for leaders to ask when preparing or updating a disaster-recovery plan.
- Have you made disaster plans? Examples of disasters can be weather, fire, the water pipes leaking or simply a computer crash.
- Have you asked others to evaluate your plan to see if there are any gaps? Can you test it to see if it is comprehensive and realistic to a disaster scenario? Make sure an outside observer is watching and documenting the test and note if issues or problems that occurred during the test were tracked and followed up on.
- Has technology changed since the last business plan? Make sure new storage and network technologies are in place.
- Has the business changed? Evaluate to make sure any new processes have been incorporated into the plan.
- What are the threat scenarios? Check to see if the company is in an area of high risk of unrest and the geographical environment.
- Is the business positioned for risk mitigation with the insurer? How soon you can be back up and running as a way to lower overall insurance premiums.
- When was the last time the plan was updated? Designate a person in the business who is responsible for ensuring the business continuity efforts are current and relevant and that there are frequent updates.
- Are plans developed in a vacuum? Have recovery plans for information technology services, facilities and people coordinated so they are not redundant and there are no gaps. Make sure the laws and regulations are followed.
- What about the people outside the organization who could have an impact? See if vendors and outsourcing partners have sound business continuity plans in place so your business in not left vulnerable. Check on the supply chain. Are there other businesses with whom you might work to share resources in times of a disaster? Some communities do a broad survey to determine what businesses have excess capacity that might be used by others in times of disaster.
- Are the organization’s capabilities leveraged to the best advantage? Be able to provide a recovery potential within the corporate confines.
“Disasters can include but are not limited to environmental disasters, loss of utilities and services, equipment failure and organized or deliberate disruption, such as an act of terrorism,” Muske said. “No matter the situation, when a recovery plan is in place, a business will be able to handle these situations if they occur.”
--30--
http://www2.dasnr.okstate.edu/Members/katie.reim-40okstate.edu/be-prepared-for-a-business-disaster
Contact: Katie Reim, 405-744-6792, katie.reim@okstate.edu
