Disaster Plan: More Threats to Address

 Information Technology

In this disaster plan, IT is third on the list.  If your employees have communications and a place to work, then they will need access to the IT systems they use.  If your IT is on-premises, and the building is not available, you are going to need a list of the hardware that your system uses, and a valid full system backup to load on the replacement system.

If your system is cloud-based, you will still need network access to it.  How can your team get access, and have the bandwidth necessary to keep the business working?

If your system is cloud-based, do you have the technology in place so that an intruder can’t lock you out or steal client information?

People

One early priority is to determine if your employees are safe and in a safe place.  Once you know the status of your existing employees, you can start to work on taking care of clients. You may be in a position where you...

Disaster Plan: Threats to Address

The threats you face will be different depending on where you live in the world.  Following are some of the most common disasters.  Think about which may affect your company.

Weather / Natural Disasters

This category is one of the most common disasters that companies face.  It could be flooding, a tornado, or some other natural disaster. 

Natural disasters and severe weather events not only affect you, but they affect other businesses in your area.  So if you have a better disaster plan than your competitor, these events may open new opportunities for you.

Weather disasters can wipe out your infrastructure, your products, and other parts of your business in that location.

Fire

Fire may be one of the higher probabilities.  Think what it would be like if you drove up to your business tomorrow and it had burned to the ground.

Supply Chain

If your business depends on materials from other areas, your supply chain could be at...

Disasters can come in a variety of flavors.  This year, we can think about the pandemic as a disaster and see that it affects every business differently. 

The pandemic was not something most people would have planned for, and most disaster plans probably didn't specifically address it.  However, the process of creating a disaster plan would have benefited those businesses with them.

Following is a story of an unexpected event and the impact of not having a disaster plan in place.  Again this was not something this company expected, and its effects on their customers show it.

My internet, which is the lifeblood of my business, is provided through a cellular reseller.  I had loved their service until this incident hit.

On December 31, 2020, ATT had a server fail. This particular server was the device that handled renewing the monthly service for many ATT resellers.  The result was thousands of customers like myself lost internet for an extended...