Alliance articles

Now the unlikely event isn’t so unlikely, are you prepared?

Almost a year ago, events in the capital proved that disasters really can happen and that the crossing of fingers does not constitute a plan.

In fact, we can all now realistically add ‘terrorism’ to the list of feared events, alongside floods and fires and the like.

Have we absorbed this genuine risk, though?

Apparently not.

Independent research concludes that more than 80% of London SMEs have neither a written security policy or a plan of action in the event of a disaster.

This is pretty alarming. But even more concerning when the next fact sinks in: the year following a flood (for the sake of argument) 80% of businesses without a well structured recovery plan shut down. And 90% of businesses that simply ‘lose data’ following a disaster have a life expectancy of just two years.

Come on, though. How likely is this scenario? Isn’t this just scaremongering?

Well, the government reckons that 20% of all medium sized businesses will experience a major disaster in the next five years.

Leaving aside the efforts of the bomb makers, a simple fire or flood could lead to loss of premises, important equipment, production – and even your reputation if negligence is suspected.

Fortunately, after so many paragraphs of doom and gloom, we bring you a glimmer of hope. We can help you make a plan of action for the day you hope will never happen. It’s designed to be practical, pragmatic, workable and effective in real-life worst-case scenarios. Not simply to sit in a file.

Our disaster planning to-do list:

- We’ll help you pick your recovery team.
- We’ll conduct a business impact review.
- Help you appoint a co-ordinator.
- Design a structure for essential communications in the event of a crisis.
- Set up a disaster recovery team.
- Develop a continuity strategy – a strategy for moving forward.

Following this, we’ll set up a programme to analyse and review the structure we’ve worked on together, after all, circumstances change. We need to keep you ever prepared, assuming there’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Even though, like you, we hope there isn’t.