Are You Prepared If Disaster Strikes?
A business continuity plan can prevent disasters from putting the future of your business at risk, preparation is key.
From fires to floods, earthquakes to hurricanes, disaster can strike anytime, anywhere, and often with little to no advance warning. According to the Insurance Information Institute, as many as 40 percent of businesses forced to suspend operations due to a natural or human-caused disaster never reopen their doors.
Try to imagine the challenges and struggles your business would face in the wake of a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina or Superstorm Sandy. It’s scary to even consider. Now here’s something even scarier: A relatively minor fire or flood that forces you to shut down operations carries many of the same challenges as a disaster on the scale of Katrina or Sandy.
Your commercial property insurance policy would help you rebuild your physical infrastructure, but are you equipped to deal with lost revenue and mounting expenses while you work to restore operations?
Planning for the worst
The difference between surviving a business interruption and going belly-up often hinges on one factor—preparation.
The best way to prevent a disaster from putting the future of your business at risk is to have a proper continuity plan in place.
Business continuity planning involves:
- Defining potential risks
- Determining how those risks will affect operations
- Implementing safeguards and procedures designed to mitigate those risks
- Testing those procedures to ensure that they work
- Periodically reviewing the process to make sure that it is up to date
Start the process by establishing a planning team tasked with developing the continuity plan.
Let us guide you through the process.
No business owner wants to think about what would happen to the business if disaster strikes, but it’s a reality that all business owners must face. Southwest Risk Management realizes it can be a daunting task to plan for a major business interruption—but it doesn’t have to be.
We can help you kick-start your planning efforts with a suite of industry-leading business continuity tools and resources, including a sample plan that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of your business. We can guide you step by step throughout the planning process, from assessing hazards to implementing safeguards to ensuring your plan stays up to date.
For more information, visit Risk Management and Business Insurance, or call a SW Risk Insurance Specialist at 1-866-924-7976 (SWRM).
