For companies with limited resources, attempting to recover after experiencing a significant loss can be an extremely daunting venture. However, what many small business owners are not aware of is that planning for a natural disaster can actually rescue the company from a seemingly inevitable end.
Business Disaster Recovery Plan
When creating a business recovery plan, you can prevent accidents from occurring, such as storing important documents away from the property, backing up files, and assessing the condition of indoor plumbing. While larger companies are able to hire risk managers to oversee the risks and work with insurance and disaster restoration companies, smaller companies must depend on their own employees to prevent as much damage as possible.
Please note, though, that if you have already experienced a natural disaster, you should never hesitate to call an emergency restoration company. Their job is to help you recover as many building materials and contents as possible. Overall, this will save you the most time and money during the recovery process.
Creating a Business Recovery Plan
Despite the size of the business, it is essential for all companies to have a disaster recovery plan so they can save as much time and money as possible. While the plan will vary for each business, you will find the most important steps to include below.
What to Include in a Business Disaster Recovery Plan:
- Establish an emergency plan and practice implementing it.
- Assign each employee responsibilities that are clear and simple to understand.
- Develop a list of mandatory phone numbers and addresses.
- Inform customers of the disaster.
- Gather emergency items that are needed after the disaster.
- Determine the potential duration of a recovery period.
- Compile a document of the cash value of all assets.
- Insure and protect the building as best as possible.
- Backup and duplicate files.
- Plan to conduct business at a separate location.
- Set up separate, off-site data storage to protect important computer files and data.
Review Your Insurance Policy
Insurance is not something you want to have only because it is required by law. You will want to make sure it will cover at least the majority of the replacement or repair costs if the unexpected ever were to happen. If you live in a flood zone, make sure you also have flood insurance because it is not covered under standard policies. In addition, businesses with locations in the mountains may want to consider earthquake insurance because it is also separate.
If you have made any renovations, changes, or additions to your policy, it is important to make sure your policy is updated accordingly.
In addition to having an insurance policy, consider the foregone losses that may occur while the facility is not able to be used due to construction. Make sure to plan ahead as much as possible to ensure that the business will not go under because of lost income. There is also an insurance extension that can be bought in addition to your standard plan to make sure you are covered when the time comes.
Finding A Disaster Restoration Vendor
When choosing a disaster restoration company, it is crucial to choose the right one because the future of your business can depend on your work. When searching for this provider, ask them if they are licensed, certified, experienced, and what kind of equipment they use to restore building materials. A local restoration company that has experience in multiple fields, including water damage restoration, fire damage restoration, reconstruction, etc. would also be helpful as the building may need more than one service.
At Sunrise Cleaning we offer restoration services residentially as well as commercially. If your business needs restoration services you can visit us at 2285 North Yellowstone in Idaho Falls, ID, call us at 208-529-4762, or fill out our online form.
