Will You Be Scrambling in a Disaster?

A severe storm system rolled across the South for a second day Tuesday, knocking out electricity to tens of thousands as it made a mess of the morning commutes in many southern cities. Several schools either closed or delayed opening as part of their emergency preparedness plans.

Often times, the school’s emergency plans leave parents scrambling for last minute childcare and sadly, many of these parents, who don’t have the support of family or friends end up staying home until the schools re-open. Missing work and possibly losing income. Other parents won’t be scrambling. Why? Because they have a strong support system of family/friends with a contingency plan in place if school unexpectedly lets out.

A severe storm system rolled across the South for a second day Tuesday, knocking out electricity to tens of thousands as it made a mess of the morning commutes in many southern cities. Several schools either closed or delayed opening as part of their emergency preparedness plans.

Often times, the school’s emergency plans leave parents scrambling for last minute childcare and sadly, many of these parents, who don’t have the support of family or friends end up staying home until the schools re-open. Missing work and possibly losing income. Other parents won’t be scrambling. Why? Because they have a strong support system of family/friends with a contingency plan in place if school unexpectedly lets out.

As an employer, do you have a contingency plan for disaster? Does everyone in your company know what that plan is or at least how to locate the instructions on what to do in an emergency situation? If the building were wiped out in a disaster, could you do business as usual or at the least find alternative ways to meet your customer’s needs? Will you be scrambling?

As an IT Manager, What happens in this case? Can you get your data back? Can you or your staff run your business applications as usual? Are you 100 percent certain that staff could access accounting, production, calendars, shared files & email applications even if nothing is left of your building? Do you know how much data (1/2 day or half an hour) you can afford to lose? Are you 100 percent certain your backups are really working? Did you test them yesterday or today? Will you be able to tell the business owners, “I’ve got this!” or will you be unemployed?

Do you have a contingency plan for disaster? Does everyone in your company know what that plan is or at least how to locate the instructions on what to do in an emergency situation? If the building were wiped out in a disaster, could you do business as usual or at the least find alternative ways to meet your customer’s needs? Will you be scrambling?

We hope You’re “all set” but, if you’re not 100 percent sure, contact us for a disaster recovery audit and a free consultation & review of the audit with one of our disaster recovery & business continuity experts. You may be covered or you may discover gaps that could leave you scrambling. Let us make recommendations for those gaps. If we can’t help you, we’ll try to locate someone who can. What do you have to lose?