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Q.
What is Disaster Planning?
A. A disaster plan is an organized, step by step
outline of tasks to be implemented in the event an "occurrence"
prohibits a company from continuing normal business operations.
Q.
Does my business need a disaster plan?
A. All businesses need to engage in disaster planning
to some degree. Because businesses are dependent upon customers
for survival, no company can afford for their customers to be lost
to competition for any reason. A company's inability to provide
products or services to customers will force the customer to do
business with your competitor.
Q.
How is disaster planning different from buying insurance?
A. Insurance is designed to provide financial reimbursement
for certain monetary losses incurred by businesses. Insurance is
not intended to actually help businesses resume operations or maintain
customer service levels. Having adequate insurance coverage does
not guarantee a business will survive a catastrophe intact with
pre-loss customer-base and revenues. In other words, a business
with a new building and no customers will experience difficulty
surviving.
Disaster planning involves the process of resuming operations.
Q.
What types of disasters does a business need to plan for?
A. Disaster plans may involve the loss of physical
locations, automation and telecommunication systems, loss of personnel,
and a virtually unlimited number of other scenarios.
In
reality, a business cannot contemplate every scenario which may
interrupt operations. Therefore, events such as natural disasters
and loss of systems due to fire are the most commonly contemplated.
If
a business is dependent upon a single supplier or customer, planning
needs to involve the scenario of a catastrophe which affects these
entities and their ability to supply or purchase products from you.
In other words, their disaster can quickly become your problem.
Q.
Who needs to be involved in the process?
A. All disaster planning experts agree that top
management must be involved in the process. The owner of a company
needs to understand the critical nature of planning and be the driving
force behind accountability for completion of the plan.
In
addition, accounting departments, operations personnel, sales departments,
and any other key personnel need to be involved in discussions early
in the planning process.
Q.
Will having a disaster plan guarantee continuity of operations in
the event of a catastrophe?
A. The answer is no. However, having a well thought-out,
updated plan will increase the chances significantly. Once an event
disrupts operations, minimizing "down time" is the largest
single factor in determining survival. Having a plan in place will
increase the efficiency with which a business can deal with the
problems at hand.
Make
tough decisions before the emotion of the situation affects good
judgment.
Q.
Where do we start?
A. If your business is a client of Nixon &
Lindstrom Insurance, simply contact our offices and arrange for
an appointment. Your agent will coordinate a consultation at your
place of business.
There
is no cost for Nixon & Lindstrom clients to access these services.
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