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You Can't Recover Without First Understanding The Risks

The first step in any successful risk management plan is risk assessment and risk analysis. After assembling an operational risk management team, work together to analyze the budget, logistics and obstacles of your individual risk management plan.

For the sake of clarity and efficiency, it is best for your risk management team to work from a standard template. Many disaster recovery templates are available on the web and for purchase, but are not necessary to buy. Consistency and clarity matter most.

Making Your Analysis

Your analysis should involve collecting data on all enterprise areas that may be affected by a disaster—from physical and IT infrastructure, to property damage, service interruption and data loss.

• Collect case studies and best practices from news and internet sources on other companies that have survived — and failed to survive — past disasters. What did they do or fail to do to get recover business continuity? How did they prepare?
• Condense the information into a single "master document" to be overseen and regularly updated by the disaster recovery manager and the disaster recovery team.

Your analysis should not only index infrastructure that supports your business process, but also analyze the risks of a business interruption. Two of the most important disaster Risk Analysis and Risk Management steps are to:

• predict the loss of revenues associated with major and minor disasters
• understand how a break in business continuity will affect your relationships with customers and clients.

Managing Customers and Your Supply Chain

If your business suffers a service or business interruption, your customers might be forced to look elsewhere for services. To prevent this, consider how your customer base would be affected by interruptions lasting between one hour and a day; one to two days; and three days or more.

• Begin with a "worst-case" scenario, and work back modularly from there.
• Include how supply chain logistics might be affected, and consider the effects of
• power loss
• fire and smoke damage
• hazardous chemical spills
• water damage
• After listing your business' major operations and their specific vulnerabilities, make a priority list. A simple rubric of "necessary/important/unimportant" should help categorize which operations in your enterprise should take precedence and be fixed first.

Agility Recovery

A risk assessment plan is essential to preparing your business for disaster, but it cannot guarantee business continuity in the aftermath. Agility can. Membership with Agility's ReadySuite will guarantee you have a mobile office to keep your business running. From mobile command centers to computers, servers, and satellite telephone and internet link-ups, ReadySuite will keep your business alive in any situation.

How will it work for you?

Hear real business survival stories. Our latest video features executives describing how Agility helped their business survive the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina.

Call today to learn more. 1-877-364-9494

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