Any business leader worthy of the title knows surviving a crisis depends on having an emergency plan in case of disaster. That said, the COVID-19 pandemic in which we’re currently stuck is an unprecedented situation.
I’m looking around today as many business leaders discover their definition of “disaster” wasn’t nearly broad enough. It’s not that these companies had no strategies in place. I’ll use my company as an example; we have our corporate headquarters located between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where a third of every year is labeled “Hurricane Season.” As you’d expect, we have a detailed plan for securing information, keeping our people safe, and maintaining operations in the event of a hurricane.
We also have formalized blueprints in case of a major fire, a long-term internet disruption, and even an advanced cyber-attack. But a pandemic that requires us to maintain social distance for weeks? I will admit…I didn’t anticipate that.
Fortunately, many elements of our continuity plans were dynamic enough to work under current circumstances. We had to deal with some challenges on the fly, but we weren’t starting from scratch. And that’s the point I’d like to make today: when it comes to creating a functional preparedness strategy, adaptability is the single most important element.
Any disruption of daily activities can have a major impact. Thus, your immediate goal is to try and get operations back to some semblance of normalcy as quickly as the circumstances allow.
Your emergency plans need to go beyond what is happening today, this week, or this month. The ripple effect from a disaster can impact a company for a year or even longer. The existing situation is serious, but we also need to be thinking about how we can apply what we’ve learned to the next crisis.
Dealing with Today, Planning for Tomorrow
It’s naïve to think that something of this magnitude couldn’t happen again. Thus, the only logical response is to leverage the knowledge we’ve gained to create and maintain an even more adaptable emergency preparedness plan.
One of the ways we’ve tried to maximize the flexibility of our own recovery strategy is by starting with a high-level breakdown of categories that may need to be addressed. Incorporating our experiences from the last few weeks, we started with six basic areas, each assigned to a senior manager:
- Human Resources: Absolutely nothing is more important than the physical safety and welfare of your employees and your customers. Securing their safety trumps all other concerns. Thus, we made sure to incorporate things like evacuation plans, emergency supplies, and redundant plans to facilitate communication.
- Company and Client Data: We are an information company; data is our business. Making sure our servers and connections remain secure—and private information stays private—are huge priorities for us. This includes multiple backups, as well as contact lists stored in safe remote locations.
- Physical Facilities: In the event of a natural disaster, you’ll need to verify that your building is intact and safe. This covers structural integrity, but also encompasses the safety of essential internal systems such as electricity, water, and HVAC.
- Essential Equipment: If the roof collapsed on your building, you’d have to think about more than just relocating. Falling debris or exposure to the elements may damage equipment and fixtures, as well. Make sure you plan for enough backup equipment to get you up and running.
- Incoming Services: Even if your building is sound, outside factors may affect things like internet access or phones. A couple years back, a hurricane left us without power for a week. But, because we had a plan, we were able to switch everyone to remote operations with very little time lost.
- Supply Chains: As a data-centric operation, we’re more dependent on internet lines than trucks and warehouses. Still, I felt like this was important enough to include. An integral part of any emergency plan will also be to consider your vendors and suppliers, many of whom may also be dealing with the aftermath of the crisis.
Be Realistic
Emergencies are going to happen. Disasters are going to strike. Situations are going to arise that prevent “business as usual.” Failing to plan for such events is—as the saying goes—planning to fail.
It’s not enough to plan for what might happen, though. As our current circumstances demonstrate, we have to consider anything that could happen, no matter how unlikely. Unfortunately, that is not a static target.
For that reason alone, a disaster preparedness plan should never be considered a “set it and forget” task. Businesses are almost living things on their own, moving and changing and adapting to new conditions. The economic landscape is also fluid, so it makes sense that your emergency recovery strategies should be constantly evolving as well.
