A new survey has revealed a startling level of complacency among small businesses about the need to draw up contingency plans to keep things running smoothly in the event of a fire, flood or explosion. While most owner-managers acknowledge that such a disaster would risk the survival of their business, 50 per cent have no formal procedures in place setting out what needs to be done if a disaster occurs.
More worryingly, 48 per cent of these unprepared businesses said that putting this kind of business-continuity plan in place had never even crossed their mind, on the basis that the chance of a disaster affecting them was too remote.
Disaster isn’t nearly as remote a risk as it might seem. Almost one in five businesses is affected by major disruption every year, so business continuity should be an integral part of the management of your business.
It doesn’t need to be a big commitment. There are small steps you can take that would make a big difference in the event of a disaster, such as backing up your computers to an offsite location, or setting up a mutual agreement with another business to share facilities if either of you is badly disrupted.
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