National Preparedness Month: Have a plan to recover
by Rachel Stancliff, Heartland Technology Solutions
September is National Preparedness Month, driven this year by Agility Recovery, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Ready Campaign, and Citizen Corps. This campaign is an effort to encourage Americans to prepare for emergencies, whether it is at their homes, workplace, or communities.
The percentage of small- to medium-sized businesses that never recover after a disaster is staggeringly high, especially since the steps to putting together a disaster recovery plan are simple.
You never know when disaster might strike. Heartland Technology Solutions knows this very well – only weeks after we finalized our business continuity plan, a deadly tornado struck Joplin, MO, where one of our locations is based. While our location in Joplin was thankfully unscathed, hundreds of other businesses were destroyed. We could have been one of them, and we have seen how businesses can recover if they have a plan.
Take some time this month to begin preparing your business in case of a power outage, fire, earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or other disaster. There are a number of helpful resources online that can lead you through the stages of preparing.
- Educate yourself with Agility Recovery’s upcoming NPM webinars and archived webinars from PrepareMyBusiness.org.
- Plan how you will stay in business and recover with downloadable resources from PrepareMyBusiness.org and instructions from Ready.gov
- Test your business continuity plan with a checklist and live meetings
- Know how to get the help you need to protect your business with disaster assistance
