Tornado Season Ahead: Do You Have a Business Disaster Plan?

Living and working in the Midwest means there's a strong chance your life will be impacted at some point in your life. However, we also have the potential for flooding, ice storms, fire, earthquakes, civil unrest and any number of other disasters that can impact your business operations. Do you have a plan in place to cope with and recover from disasters for your business? If you don't, you could be one of the 40% of businesses that fail to reopen following a disaster. Here's a look at how to put together a disaster recovery plan for your company.

• Start by looking at what your hazards are. Are you in an earthquake zone? If so, how will it impact your operations? If you have sensitive operations that are affected by vibrations, you may want to consider how even smaller tremors will impact your business.

• Next, consider how to mitigate those hazards. If flooding would wipe out your company, can you invest in booms and sandbagging equipment or add berms or levees to move water away from your structure?

• Have you considered decentralizing? Today's level of digitization means that it's easier than ever to decentralize your company's computer operations. Use cloud programs when possible and backup to off-site and, preferably, out-of-region servers.

• Think about a business or equipment valuation for proper insurance coverage. If your insurance coverage isn't sufficient to cover lost business income or ruined equipment or materials, it won't provide enough to help you recover.

• Get your exercise. It's not enough to just have a plan, you need to go through it regularly. Take an afternoon every quarter or at least once a year to go through the plan as a though exercise to determine what won't work and revise as needed.

By putting together a disaster recovery plan for your company, you can ensure that your business can continue operations during a disaster and get back on its feet afterward. But what if you're not quite sure exactly what you should put into the plan or if there are areas you need help with? Let AccountRely be your hero by pairing you with one of our experienced business professionals to help you develop a disaster recovery plan for your business. Please feel free to reach out today to get started.