HEROware: Simple Steps for Contingency Planning, Home and Work

Hey All - this is Lynn Shourds, President & CTO of HEROware. Many companies think of contingency planning as a massive project that is so big they'll never be able to accomplish it. But, if you think of contingency planning at work in the same light as your daily contingency planning at home, you'll see that it's the little things that really make a difference. According to a nice article at GIGAOM, "If you haven’t thought about setting up a formal contingency plan to outline the steps you need to take now in case something happens to you, you could be jeopardizing your livelihood".

 

Let's start on the premise that a contingency plan's formula could look something like this: If x then I'm prepared with y.

Let's start at home. I live in Southern California where it never rains...not this week. It's been raining cats and dogs for 8 days. But as a daily contingency plan for rain (x) I have two umbrella's (y) in my trunk. Now that may seem a simple example but that is a contingency plan. In Southern California we also have earthquakes (x). They are very few and far between but we have to be planned for them. So, in my garage I have a cupboard filled with water, batteries, flashlight, and radio (y). I'll give one more example. When I'm playing golf, if I start playing poorly (x), then I start drinking beer (y). So you see, we all have daily contingency plans for many of life's "what ifs". There's no reason not to be prepared in your business as well.

Let's start with the little things. Make sure you have redundant copies of your business data. In case of disaster (x) make sure you have a copy off-site (y).

Since communication is the life-blood of most companies, make sure your email is redundant. Don't just rely on your local email server. What happens if it goes down or you lose it in a fire (x)? Executives need to communicate with employees and sales needs to communicate with customers. Since email is this important, make sure you have a redundant off-site email plan (y), one that can continue even in a disaster.

These are a few very simple steps any company can take to begin a contingency plan. Remember, you're doing it in your daily life, isn't it time to take these simple steps to work?

Thanks for listening-

Lynn
>see how HEROware can help with your contingency plans at www.heroware.com