If (When) Disaster Strikes can you Cope?

There are many potential disasters that can affect our organisations, some serious and some just inconvenient.

A sensible precaution is to put into place a Disaster Recovery Plan. The main parts of which are kept off site:

• A good back-up of computer data
  
• An inventory of all important hardware (to enable you to replace items)
  
• An inventory of all important software (to enable you to replace software)
  
• Details of Insurance Company, Bank Details etc (Don't rely on memory)
  
• Contact details for staff (they will need to know what to do)
  
• Contact details for major customers and suppliers
  
• A copy of your Business Disaster Plan

The plan should look at potential areas for disaster, including fire, flood, power or other utility interruption, sickness and terrorism.

To be successful the plan should show what should happen immediately an incident is discovered, what should happen after two hours then four hours and so on.

Test the plan before you need it; It is surprising how many plans fall flat when tested.

Remember to test it before it tests you.