I would like to share with you a valuable quote from my father:  “Always remember to think of the 6 P’s: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”

Ask yourself the following question:  If something happened to your company’s property would you worry about what you and your fellow employees would do to cope with the situation?

If you said, “I do not know,” then you and your company should take some time to discuss it.  If the building was damaged from fire, flood or storm, would there be a place to go to work, enter information into the systems, or continue to make money?  Most likely the answer is no.  Most companies, especially small companies, do not take into account the ‘1 in 50 years’ scenario.  However, that 1 in 50 years chance could very well occur while you are in charge.  It is up to you to make sure that you have a plan of action.

The best way to start developing a plan is to consider scenarios and take into account everything that could happen along the way.  For example: What if your data server room was flooded, and your server was still operational but needed to be reloaded with data?  Do you have a backup tape or other form of backup that you could rely on to make sure there was minimal loss to the company’s transactions?  Or did this backup get soaked as well and became unusable?  This is why it is critical to store backup tapes off site.  You never know when a tape is the only thing you have to rely on. 

Here is another example: What if the entire building went up in flames and there was nothing left?  Would you have anywhere to turn in case this happens, such as an insurance policy that provides you an emergency server allowing employees to continue data entry?   Do you have walls that separate your inventory so there is a possibility that some of your product is salvaged?  Or, do you think, along with many other companies, that this could never happen?

What about power outages like the one that occurred in 2003?  Were your employees able to keep working because you had a backup generator to allow minimal activity on key assets?  Was your company like many others who said  “go home and see you when the lights come on?”

These are all situations that I came up within a few minutes.  Think about what your company could do if it was prepared.  Better yet, think about what your company could do if they were prepared and the competition was not.  Is your company content to sit back and wait until a disaster happens?  Successful companies are prepared for the future, not just the present.

Here are some examples of situations to consider as you begin your disaster preparations:

• Hard drive failures
• Server failures
• Extended power losses
• Water damage
• Storm protection, such as getting the employees, your one true asset, out of harms way
• Fire damage
• Loss due to fire, minimal loss
• Total loss due to fire
• Inventory protection
• Data protection

These are just a few examples, but you and your management team should be able to think of many other situations to help your company prepare.  And always remember the 6 P’s: “Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”