County View: Emergency plan critical to ensure business continuity
It’s critical to plan for business continuity, and now is the perfect time of year to either begin or review your process.
The most likely widespread devastating event that could occur in Mid-Missouri would be a tornado. Tornadoes may occur during any month of the year, with the most active season beginning in March. So now is the time to prepare, even more important during this period of economic slowdown.
A disruption may come from a variety of community-wide natural or man-made disasters, such as a widespread health outbreak, or a specific event, such as a fire, that may only affect your business. If you’re ready now, you can survive.
Small Business Association (SBA) statistics demonstrate that after a disaster, 60 percent of businesses within the disaster-involved area will fail-regardless of a direct operational impact or damage. An example would be a commodity-based business that receives and distributes goods. Customers, vendors and suppliers may not be able to gain access to the business due to debris or roads and bridges being out. Customers, vendors and suppliers may be impacted by widespread utility outages. Staff can be affected by these same burdens and could be unable to get to work. Virtual isolation from the outside world could devastate a business.
Here are some basic points to consider when planning for potential disasters and other emergency situations.
See County View: Emergency plan critical to ensure business continuity by James McNabb in the Columbia (Missouri) Business Times.
