Business Leadership Strategy: Disaster Recovery Plan & Crisis Management

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Business Leadership Strategy: Disaster Recovery Plan & Crisis Management

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Most disasters are predictable; like the Japanese nuclear plant disaster earlier this year and the hurricane that hit the East Coast in August. Even though their probability of occurrence was low, they are both predictable, but how many people and businesses were prepared to deal with the crisis it created and had a disaster recovery plan in place to make sure their business survived. The answer is not many. Creating a disaster recovery and crisis management plan makes sense. It doesn’t have to take much of your time, but it is worth giving it some thought over a weekend. Here’s how to prepare a plan. You may want to do this as a team: with your senior staff perhaps? The more creative input you can get, the better.

Step 1. Define Worst Case Scenarios
What are the worst-case scenarios for you? Perhaps an earthquake destroys your building and equipment, or an electrical power outage that lasts for several weeks? Fire? Flood? Theft? Hacked website? Perhaps it is simply bad press about one of your products, or a key supplier is knocked out by a disaster? Make a list of everything you can think of.

Step 2. Define How You Will Deal with the Worst Case Disasters

In thinking about each type of disaster you have listed, now answer the questions that follow. What are the first things you and your employees should do in each of these scenarios if they occur during work hours or if they occur at night or on the weekends? How does everyone get out of the building safely? How can you continue operations? How will you communicate with employees if your premises are wiped out? How will you handle customer calls or inquiries?

Step 3 Define What You Can Do To Mitigate Against Down Time of your Business

In each scenario, is there something you can do now to minimize the impact? For example, installing a back up power system, storing back up data off site; installing or renting backup servers at an alternate site; storing data using cloud computing may be a sensible approach so you can access your information from anywhere – just make sure the servers are not in the same building. Make sure you have sufficient supplies or that you have multiple suppliers in different locations so that if they are hit by a disaster, you can still continue to operate. Take a close look at the weaknesses of your business: can they be strengthened? Make sure you have adequate insurance; and consider adding a business interruption rider to provide working capital. What about storing some emergency supplies in case of shortages? Make sure you have a good relation with your bank so you can get a loan if necessary, and retain certain amount of profits, cash and retained earnings to help keep the company going during a down period.

Step 4 Public relations strategy

Having a public relations and communications strategy prepared in times of disaster or crisis is critical to ensure the best outcomes for your business. Make sure you define who is responsible to talk to the media and to communicate with customers about the disaster, particularly if it is something that negatively affects your business. Define a general tone and approach for each disaster. Building a relationship with the local press before a disaster strikes is an excellent way to ensure you get the best support for your business during a crisis.

You may want to also ask the input of a consultant in the field so you can tap into their more general knowledge and to ensure you haven’t missed anything obvious. Once you have an outline of your Disaster Recovery and Crisis Management plan, make sure you go over it with members of your staff, so they can add other ideas, but more importantly, so they know what to do.

MP Consulting writes a weekly blog on Social Media, Marketing, Leadership, Business Strategy and other Key Business Topics. I hope you enjoyed this blog and that you will send me your comments and subscribe and link to my blog at http://mpconsulting.worpress.com. There are a number of free guides and presentations available at my site, and if you need help, or need to ask me a question, then fill out the comment section on my blog or send me an email.

FREE GUIDES ARE AVAILABLE ON STRATEGIC PLANNING; BUSINESS PLANS, MARKETING PLANS, A SOCIAL MEDIA PRIMER FOR BUSINESS, A SOCIAL MEDIA PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN, AND TIME MANAGEMENT PLANNING. VISIT MY BLOG: CLICK ON THIS LINK http://bit.ly/ikBWe5

MP Consulting Services specializes in the areas of strategic planning, marketing and social media. Mark Philip, principal at MPCS, has over 20 years experience in managing businesses, both small and large, has orchestrated multiple turnarounds, built product pipelines, launched new products, sold companies and created significant shareholder value. Let me know how I can help you with your business challenge

For More Information: visit my blog at http://mpconsulting.wordpress.com or visit my LinkedIn account at http://www.linkedin.com/in/markpconsulting

Copyright © 2011 Mark Philip

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