Flu, floods, fire make disaster plan smart

We may or may not have to deal with staffing and other continuity issues that swine flu might bring; but there's always the possibility of floods, fires, windstorms, tornadoes, blizzards, ice and assorted power outages to remind us that a disaster recovery plan might be a good idea.

The good news is that good planning help is available.

Start at ready.gov/business, a government site that actually has helpful information. A stop at ready.gov/business/_downloads/sampleplan.pdf turns up a fill-in-the-blanks plan that covers such topics as evacuation plans; alternate sources in case a supplier goes down; how you'll communicate with employees, especially in the critical after-period when you seek to come back; and what to do about your IT system.

"There are different kinds of IT disaster recoveries," says John Yates, president of Integrated Technical Solutions, Inc., a Naperville-based IT support firm.

"(Which you choose) depends on how important IT is to your business and how fast you need to get it back in service.

"If billing is all you do on your computer, you probably can get billing done elsewhere for a while," Yates says. "But if your whole business depends on IT, that's a different type of backup planning."

The backup could be a tape system that you actually back up and take off site - ITS stores data for more than two dozen clients - or you could store data at an alternate site in another part of the country. Yates worries, however, that many small businesses don't want to spend the money to do anything.

"They say 'It won't happen to me,'" he says, "but it will. Look at the cost of being out of business for a week."

Whatever happens that makes you wish you had planned ahead, what-to-do-now suggestions from Administaff's Karen Codere are helpful.

If it's the flu, for example, you may want to encourage sick employees to stay home - and require "a doctor's note clearing them to return to work," says Codere, a senior human resources specialist at Administaff's Rosemont office.

Houston-headquartered Administaff provides payroll and other HR-related support to smaller businesses.

Review how any employee's prolonged absence might impact work flow. Who will cover duties? "One tactic," Codere suggests, "is to establish teams, so at least one other (staffer) is aware of a co-worker's projects."

Determine in advance who will make the decision if a flood or other disaster, or flu, makes a temporary shutdown necessary - and how employees, suppliers, customers and, if appropriate, the public will be informed.

A dedicated phone line or Web site where those who need to know can get information is one of Codere's suggestions. Designate someone to maintain the site and post messages.

• Questions, comments to Jim Kendall, JKendall@ 121MarketingResources.com.

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