Three of the focuses of my blog are Current Events, Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In some instances, catastrophic events emerge which adversely impact businesses just like people. The Coronavirus/COVID-19 Pandemic is such a case where people and businesses have been thrown into peril. Just as with humans, the health of sick businesses must be managed. The following contributed post is entitled, Handling A Business Emergency.
* * *
We are living in the middle of a pandemic right now, and while it’s a scary time to live in with the media screaming and people panic-buying, we must think about business continuity. A pandemic is an emergency for a business. It’s going to need a comprehensive backup plan to be able to cope with the stock markets crashing and the economy going belly-up. It’s essential that in any disaster, you have a contingency plan for the business to keep afloat. Still, in a pandemic, when isolation is recommended, we need to do what we can to ensure that your business continuity plan is intact. Let’s take a look.
● Know The Threat
The biggest threat in the pandemic today is the fact that people are in isolation (depending on where you are in the world). So, if your business is one in the hospitality industry or one that has been forced to let staff work from home, you need a plan – and fast. Enabling home-working and remote access to servers is an excellent way to keep people able to earn money, and your business is still running. In other threats, you need to be able to recover quickly. For example, buying batteries from powRparts to ensure that your generators and equipment can keep running in the event of a blackout is just smart business. Knowing your threats is so important so that you can get that plan up and running.
● Assign Responsibility
We may be dealing with COVID-19, but the other disasters in the world include fire, terrorism, flooding, and magic sinkholes that can swallow up half a street. Assigning areas of responsibility to your staff is so important. This way, you’re not leading the charge by yourself when it comes to implementing your emergency plan. Training up your team to be able to handle an incident is a must, and they will be able to work with you to ensure that everyone else in the business is safe!
● Know Your Contacts
You need to know the best contact information for the assigned emergency leaders in your company. You cannot scramble for phone numbers in a time of worry. You need these to be accessible, and that should be a part of your plan!
● Business Recovery
You should have a whole team dedicated to the recovery of your business in a crisis. You should get in touch with a specialist IT team if your business needs to embrace home working, as this needs to be set up and ready to go in the event of an emergency situation. You should also have emergency equipment to hand on-site in at least three easy to reach locations. You want your business to recover well, and that takes establishing normal operations as soon as possible after a crisis.
Backing up your data and ensuring that your business is reliable as quickly as possible is the best way to ensure that your business recovers well from a crisis. You must get this done as early as you can – just in case.
