What would you do if:
- All your staff were forced into isolation because of a pandemic virus?
- A software bug made one of your key systems inoperable
- Your office burned down or was flooded?
- Your server was hacked?
- Your bank was hacked?
- Your most important member of staff was knocked over by a bus
- You were unable to work for at least 6 months?
I did a stint looking after the IT for the accounts department at National Grid and it was part of my job to ensure that 200 accountants were able to keep running. I also headed the Y2K project at a global engineering company which supplied banks and utility companies. (Yes, I was the one who was stone cold sober and clutching my mobile phone at a millennium party just in case our Australian companies, in an earlier time zone, encountered a problem that we’d missed in our years of preparation).
Depending on the problem there are all sorts of things that you could do to minimise the impact of any of these disasters:
- Enable remote working
- Operate in the cloud
- Have built in redundancy, backups and failover plans
- Insurance can provide a financial buffer
- Keep up to date, written procedures
- Have somebody to cover every role in your business
- Delegate a colleague who can keep your business ticking over alongside their own.
Start this week by asking the question “What if … ?” and prepare as many responses as possible/practical/affordable in your business.