From terrorist attacks to natural disasters, businesses need to be prepared
for anything. Donna Childs, founder of Childs Capital LLC in New York City, and
author of
Contingency
Planning and Disaster Recovery: A Small Business Guide,
knows this all too well: Her office was near ground zero on 9/11. Thankfully,
she and her employees survived the attacks, and the disaster strategy she'd set
in place beforehand ensured her business' survival as well. During the mandatory
evacuation, she stayed in touch with her employees via cell phone. "I returned
to the office within a week with disruptions in phone service, water, gas,
electricity and mail delivery," she says. "A lot of small businesses didn't
survive that."
Childs, 40, was able to keep
her international economic development company afloat because she'd built
contingencies into her business plan. She had her documents available off-site
and online so she could access information immediately; she had employee
communication plans, safety plans and battery-powered laptops as well as photos
of her company's building and assets to speed up insurance claims. In less than
a month, her company was back to full operation. In addition, her quarterly
employee disaster and safety training ensured everyone was up-to-date on what to
do in a disaster.
Childs Capital LLC was
approached by the Department of Homeland Security to be part of the
ReadyBusiness program, which offers tools and
instruction on how small businesses can create disaster strategies to cover
every part of their business, from evacuation and safety plans to insurance and
data backup. Preparation for huge disasters, as well as more common business
landmines, like computer viruses or employee accidents, can make the difference
between life or death for your business. Get started now.