Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan: How to Prepare and Survive

Successful small business owners know that in order to remain successful they must prepare both for when business is going very well, as well as when negative events, such as a natural disaster occur.

While admirable, it’s simply not enough to prepare for good things such as a banner busy season because negative events do occur. Business owners who prepare for both the positive and the negative events that invariably happen in life, are the ones who will survive as well as thrive beyond a catastrophic event. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 25% of businesses never reopen after a disaster, making proactive planning one of the most important investments a business owner can make.

Evaluate Key Assets

Consider what your business would need right away in order to survive a natural disaster such as a flood, fire, or hurricane. What assets, both physical and virtual, come to mind? If you need to consult with others in your organization to create a list of essential assets, by all means do so. Having a clear understanding of what you need to protect the most is the first step in a business recovery plan. Think beyond the obvious hardware, such as servers and workstations, and include critical data, cloud-based systems, and the personnel who keep operations running.

Consider Possible Scenarios

Now that you know the assets necessary for your business to get up and running, consider each natural disaster likely to occur in your region. Then evaluate what it would take for you to respond most effectively to each possible scenario. This is the time to go into some detail for each possible negative event. How a business handles a lengthy blackout is vastly different than a response to a fire or flood.

FEMA’s Ready Business program offers scenario-planning tools and checklists tailored to specific hazard types, which can be a practical starting point for businesses in hurricane-prone regions like South Florida and New York.

Cover All the Bases

Consider all the various aspects of your business such as physical assets, virtual assets (business data), as well as personnel assets (critical employees) that mean the most. Perhaps your business relies on a steady flow of physical inventory in order to run smoothly.

Other types of businesses, especially online companies, rely very heavily on access to their business data and computer equipment in order to operate. A managed IT partner can help ensure your data is backed up offsite and accessible from anywhere in the event of a local disaster. Other businesses such as a plumbing or electrician’s shop center their business around the availability of their expert employees.

Regardless of your industry, data security and business continuity should be part of every DR planning conversation. Even a disruption that doesn’t damage physical infrastructure can expose vulnerabilities in access controls, cloud configurations, and communications systems.

Test Your Disaster Recovery Plan

Depending upon the organization, testing a DR plan may include: how to keep employees safe until a threat is over, checking alternative ways in which to communicate with others both inside and outside the business, how to restore access to data and computer hardware, and in some cases, where to set up an alternative location to work from until the original physical location is restored.

A plan that has never been tested is little more than a document. Proactive monitoring and managed detection services help businesses maintain continuity not just during natural disasters, but against cybersecurity threats that can be equally disruptive. Running tabletop exercises and scheduling annual reviews keeps your team prepared and your plan current.

Interested in more tips on preparing for natural disasters? Check out 7 Tips for Preparing Your Business IT for a Hurricane.

Build a Resilient Business Before Disaster Strikes

A strong disaster recovery plan isn’t built overnight, but the businesses that invest in it ahead of time are the ones that come back faster. From identifying critical assets to testing your response protocols, every step you take now reduces the risk of a prolonged shutdown later.

WheelHouse IT helps South Florida and New York businesses build and maintain disaster-ready IT environments, including cloud backup, business continuity planning, and our platform that gives you real-time visibility into your entire IT infrastructure. If you’re ready to strengthen your recovery posture, contact our team today.