The COVID-19 pandemic proved to the world that lacking in disaster preparedness can have serious economic consequences. But for many large and small businesses, the pandemic isn’t the only disaster they’ve had to face. The last two decades have been full of various unexpected events, from natural disasters to political crises. In a global environment that is increasingly becoming closer, how do you make your business disaster resilient?
Businesses will have to deal with problems that are out of your control. That is why you need to chart out your disaster mitigation and recovery plan ahead of time.
1. Prepare a disaster resilience plan
A disaster resilience plan is developed with the sole aim of sustaining the business in case there is any unforeseen event. Before you get to work on your plan, you’ll need to sit down and prioritize the core areas of your business. These should be those areas that your business couldn’t function without.
Your disaster resilience plan should work to keep these areas working at all times, even when there is an emergency. Data loss and recovery is another issue your plan should address. In case there is a major loss of data, what should you do? Creating a back-up of your data lets you keep crucial information safe at all times. Protection from hackers and ransomware is another area your business should look into. COVID-19 showed how difficult running a business in a pandemic can be.
That is why you should prioritize ways to keep your employees healthy and safe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses had to gear up with essential medical supplies to keep the doors to their business open. New ways of running the business became normal. This included ideas like social and physical distancing, as well as wearing facemasks. Businesses too had to raise their hygiene standards. Your resilience plan should incorporate everything you’ve learned from handling your business through the pandemic. Maintaining the health and safety of your employees is necessary if you want to grow and sustain your business at all times.
2. Build a cohesive plan
When writing your plan on how to make your business disaster-resilient, provide solutions to all the potential problems your company could face.
This should include:
- Operating a business in a pandemic or other emergencies
- Revenue and payment
- Communication and data protection
- Facilities management
- Health and safety of employees
- Supply chain and vendor queries
Aside from these, another important information you should answer is what happens when the key management is incapacitated. By creating a plan of succession, there is no confusion while the management has to recover.
3. Carryover what worked in the past
History is the best guideline that tells you how to make your business disaster resilient. By learning from what worked in the past and what didn’t, your business has a greater chance of building enduring roots. Take the case of Hong Kong airport. The SARS epidemic that Hong Kong faced led to increased security measures at airports. Passengers were all screened for fever. This is a policy they continued to implement even after the epidemic was declared over.
The coronavirus pandemic has made people think about disaster resilience. In the face of sudden and unexpected changes, many businesses suffered. But those that were able to adapt to the changing environment were able to bounce back. That is why disaster resilience is necessary for long-term business success. The measures that helped businesses through the pandemic will help you in the future as well.
For many industries, this means an increased focus on the health and safety of employees and customers. The use of face masks and gloves have become common in 2020. People carry hand sanitizers everywhere, and establishments offer people hand sanitizer when they enter as well. People have been asked not to crowd areas, and a large focus has shifted to online sales and delivery. Many of these changes may be around. The safety measures you implement during the pandemic will give you insight into developing disaster preparedness for future emergencies.
4. Create open channels of communication
Working together with your colleagues and stakeholders is the best way to maintain business success. And to do that, you need to maintain open channels of communication with them about your disaster resilience plan. In light of recent world events, people have had to learn how to run a business in a pandemic. By keeping the management, your employees, and all other stakeholders informed about the resilience plan, they’ll know what to do in case another unexpected emergency strikes.
Your employees should be aware of how they’re expected to operate during a crisis. Should they work from home? Who should come to work? What kind of safety gear are they expected to follow? Your management should similarly be aware of their roles and functions during a crisis, especially if there are any added roles specifically pertaining to the crisis. You should also inform key stakeholders such as supply chain vendors about your resilience plan. If you suddenly couldn’t source from your vendors, what is your back up plan? All this data should be available to you and your colleagues ahead of time.
5. Adapt to changes in business and customer interactions
The coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of changes in how consumers purchase products. Online sales and social media marketing are what people turn to now. Digital transactions are common and preferable, and people look for services and products online.
In this changing environment, your business should prioritize online sales over physical ones. Your primary concern should be communicating effectively with your customers and informing them about your business in the pandemic. Food restaurants and delivery services should let clients know that they make proper use of face masks and gloves. People are more likely to purchase from you if they feel safe. This is a change that is likely to continue. By incorporating these changes in consumer behavior to your business operations, you adapt better and create a more resilient business in a pandemic.
From face shields and social distancing markers to acrylic sheets and hand sanitizing stations, our New Normal Essentials collection brings all health and safety gear under one umbrella. Find everything you need to make your business disaster-resilient during the pandemic and beyond it.
