SURVIVING: How to Prepare Your Business for Disaster
With recent natural disasters such as Superstorm Sandy and the Oklahoma Tornadoes still fresh in our memories, dealers need to consider implementing a disaster recovery plan if they do not have already have one.
Every business should have a disaster response plan. Employees should be trained on what to do before, during and after a major event disrupts business. These plans can be quite complex, but there are some basic questions you need to being to develop a sound plan:
1) How are you going to communicate with your staff? A phone tree, where employees call one another and report back to a supervisor, can aid in quick verification if a disaster occurs outside business hours. However, what if the phone tree can't work due to damage to a cellphone tower, power loss or another unforeseen event?
2) How and where will you set up operations if all or part of your dealership is destroyed?
3) How will you access crucial documents? Your computer file should be backed up daily with the backup kept at an off-site location.
Digitizing as much as possible will mitigate the loss of critical information so consider ways to reduce the amount of paper files that need to be maintained as paper can be destroyed by fire, water or wind.
Also consider how you will keep your customers information confidential?
4) Have you considered how will you communicate with customers?
5) Do your employees know what to do in the event of an emergency?
Make sure your employees know where to go and what to do in case of a fire or storm during working hours. Consider conducting drills.
6) How will you meet the human needs of your staff? Will you have payroll upquicklytogetmoneyintoemployees'hands? Willyougiveemployees time to deal with damage to personal property or to the communities in which they live? Don't underestimate the personal impact a disaster can have on your employees - it is essential to ensure that employees have access to money, insurance and other support programs (including mental health).
7) Aside from human resources and payroll, what work processes will you be able to restore first? What services will your customers require in the immediate aftermath, and how will you provide those services.
8) Do you have business-continuation, flooding, and other types of insurance in place? Is the amount of coverage appropriate for your business given your size and the likelihood of certain events (tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, etc.) in your area?
• Business interruption insurance - can help your business recover from a disaster. It is designed to compensate businesses for periods when they are unable to operate because of disaster. Some tips to consider include:
+ Keep a record of your dealership contents using records and photos. This will make it easier to substantiate claims for items
such as furnishings and office supplies which can quickly multiply when your offices are destroyed.
+ Carry insurance on any items at your dealership that belong to others (customers, supplies, etc.).
+ Plan to get back to work quickly when it is safe to do so. Your insurance provider will be expecting you to get up and running as quickly as possible.
Insurance Tip: If you live in a coastal area and have Hurricane Insurance also consider the need for flood insurance as your dealership might not be covered if the damage to your facilities is caused by the storm surge rather than the high winds.
The most important part of your disaster plan is to identify and safeguard assets and records prior to the disaster. Once the plan has been developed, it should be tested and then reviewed periodically to ensure that the plan is kept up to date.