Home
>
Strategic Planning
>
Business Disaster? Wont Happen to Me

Business Disaster? Wont Happen to Me

As fast as you can say business disaster, your business can go up in smoke. That's what happened a while back to Castle Carpet One. Gone were thousands of dollars worth of equipment and carpet, plus two smaller businesses that were housed in the same building. Luckily the owners, Larry and Diane Cox, had plenty of business insurance to cover their physical losses. But they lost their most important business asset - customer records - because of failed back up systems. Rebuilding their customer base will be tough and the long-term revenue impact is hard to measure.

With disasters like hurricanes, tornados, fires, floods and terrorism, to name a few, it's critical for small companies to have a disaster plan. And for companies with only one location, it's even more important. One location companies have the potential to lose the entire business if disaster strikes. For a home-based business, it's even worse. You could lose your home and your business in one swoop. Any small business owner can minimize the damage by simply having proactive strategies in place to deal with an emergency when it happens. What if:

* You arrive at your business to find it vandalized and all of your customer records missing?

* Your most critical employee becomes ill and requires an extended absence?

* Your computer hard drive (or network) crashes?

* You become the primary care giver for a sick family member?

* You become ill and can't manage your customer commitments?

* Your business becomes inaccessible because of an emergency on your street?

What would you do?

Would your business survive? What would you grab if you had to leave your business quickly? After the emergency, how would you communicate with your employees? Customers? How long would it take to get back to business as usual?

Without a disaster plan, you'll have a harder time getting back to work. Most businesspeople think it will just take two or three days. That's tough to do if you have no plan for action and little money to move forward. The reality, experts say, is more like several months and at least 25 percent of businesses that experience a disaster never reopen.

But most small business owners just don't make time for planning. We think it's "never going to happen to us." It could. The time to formalize a game plan for an emergency is before it happens. Do it now.

Denise O'Berry is a small business consultant located in Florida. For disaster planning tools and tips, visit http://www.myhurricanecenter.com

eco-friendly cleaning service Buffalo Grove ..

In The News:

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

Business Disaster? Wont Happen to Me

Strategic Planning