2Take Care of Employees
First and foremost, your employees should know evacuation procedures, including where to meet and whom to contact after an evacuations. Offices also should have a basic emergency supply kit on hand. FEMA’s Website shows what to include in your kit.
3Identify Assets Most Critical to Your Business
4Determine What Factors Create the Most Risk for Your Business
5Evaluate the Solutions You Have in Place
6Evaluate Your Solution Provider
In the event of disaster, you need to make sure your solution provider can protect your business information and eliminate IT downtime. There are some questions you should ask them. Do they have a disaster-preparedness plan of their own so they can help you during a disaster? Is their solution built on reliable hardware and software? To what extent are they dependent on other vendors for recovery services?
7Write a Recovery Plan
Clearly define and document the steps needed to recover your network and ensure employee safety. These steps should be posted around the office for employees to see, so they become familiar with the plan and should be electronically available on the company’s intranet. As a best practice, hand out printed copies for key employees to take home with them.
8Regularly Test Your Recovery Plan
9Document the Details of Your Test
10Regularly Update the Plan as the Company Evolves
When changes are made to the plan, inform employees to ensure that the plan is still relevant to your business, particularly if there have been significant changes that may impact disaster preparedness. These changes could include individuals who are no longer with the company and have been assigned specific disaster-recovery tasks. Also, you’ll need to plan accordingly for establishing backups in case the key people are not reachable during an emergency.
11Stay Informed and Communicate With Others
Many weather emergencies can be predicted, so stay current on local weather forecasts and follow updates from local authorities. You’ll also want to ensure that other businesses in your network have their own disaster plans and determine how you will communicate with partners and customers when disasters strike.