Small Business Planning for Emergencies

February 20, 2018 by OSYB Staff

As a small business owner, you have to strategize and plan short term and long term business and financial plans.  Don’t forget to include a comprehensive business natural disaster plan. Natural disasters can occur anytime, anywhere and everywhere.  So why and how should you plan for an unpredicatable occurrence?  QuickBook Intuit had some thoughts to share:

“Recent studies indicate that one in four small and medium-size businesses do not reopen after a major storm, and that the average small business loses $3,000 per day after closing. In spite of these risks, 57% of small businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan”.

Know what is at risk:

• Physical assets – such as office, warehouses, inventory, etc.
• Business relationships – customer, vendor, etc.
• Income stream – loss of income will affect revenues, payroll, inventory, etc.

Your procedures manual should include an emergency protocol plan and an emergency checklist.  Here are a few things you should include:

Suggested tasks to prepare before an emergency:

• Create procedures for managing emergent situations
• Maintain regularly scheduled Cloud backups
• Build pathways for easy access to capital such as a line of credit
• Have the appropriate insurance coverages
• Train Your staff on the Emergency Plan and run-through drills

Suggestions for what Emergency Checklist should include:

• Policy and procedures to follow during an emergency
• Communication plan during and after emergency with clients, vendors, etc.
• All user IDs and passwords
• Employee contact information
• Task list for daily routines
• List of staff who can work remotely

A natural disaster is a business calamity that you have the least control of, however, thoughtful planning and implementation may take the bite out of the loss.

For more details and an emergency plan scenario:  How to Create Emergency Preparation Checklist for Your Business

Image Credit:  Deposit Photos