This week I attended an HP/SCORE workshop on “Keeping Your Business Safe.” The initial question indicated a great number of businesses are vulnerable to both man-made and natural disasters: “How many of you backed up your data last month? Last week? Last night?!! What is YOUR response?
You have much business-critical data in your computer:
- Customer data
- Employee data
- Accounting and financial data
- Supplier data
- Inventory lists
- Bank records
- E-mail lists
- Key contracts
- Critical personal data
- Other company data
Man-made threats include: System malfunctions / Human error / Unauthorized access (and hackers) / Disgruntled employees / Physical theft / Sabotage / Viruses / Any number of mechanical failures.
Natural disasters include: Floods / Tornadoes / Hurricanes / Fire / Earthquakes / Landslides.
All of us need to plan for the unexpected! Remember Murphy’s Law – “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way!” You want to minimize the disruption of your business so you can carry on at another location, for a period of time if need be.
So, what do you need to do?
- Develop a disaster plan and communicate this to your employees; then actually PRACTICE it! Your Plan should include 1) How to contact employees, 2) Who should be responsible for what (equipment, files and records, …), 3) Where to assemble if unable to meet at the company site, 4) How to conduct business in an emergency, 5) How to get mission-critical supplies should a regular supplier not be available.
- Backup all your business-critical data: Flash (thumb) drive / recordable CD / RW-DVD / Redundant hard drives / Optical storage disks / On-line storage sites (they are very convenient).
- Store back-ups in a safe place, not on-site, not next door.
- Have an up-to-date inventory of office equipment, etc.
- Know how to access cash or monies should your primary bank be out of commission.
- Review insurance policies to ensure adequate coverage.
There you have it, maybe not comprehensive but this does cover crucial items. As the first step, now go back up your data and put the backup in a safe place! Then follow through with the rest of the plan.
Dick McCormick – Biz Success with Less www.bizsuccesswithless.com
Tags: Disaster preparedness, security
