Fires, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, even terrorist attacks are real threats to business operations everywhere. Do you have a solid plan in place to recover your business if a disaster does occur? Disaster recovery isn’t just a matter of repairing structural damage. It also involves restoring data, caring for your employees, and keeping up customer relations until everything is back in order.

1. Make Plans for Your Data 

Backups are essential, but if those backups are only kept on-site, they won’t be of much help if the building is destroyed or badly damaged. Cloud storage is one way to secure data, and another is to backup internally to multiple facilities within your organization. Whichever route you choose, be sure you understand the recovery process. Sometimes backups do not include important system configurations, which take time and effort to restore.

2. Make Plans for Customer Service 

Your customers still need care, even when your business is temporarily out of operation. A call center is an invaluable tool to help keep customers satisfied when it isn’t possible to offer services from your damaged facility. Optimally, your call center will be located well away from your business, so that the same disaster that takes out your operations doesn’t take down their facilities, as well.

3. Make Plans for Your Employees 

Have a plan in place so that your employees know how they will be taken care of if they are out of work for a while after a disaster. This might include full pay for a specified length of time, or perhaps partial pay for a longer period. Another option is to offer employees compensation for assisting in cleanup efforts.

Having a solid disaster plan in place assures that your company can survive even the toughest of situations.