by Rose Marie Quintos
Having a plan for crisis management is essential for small businesses, especially since small businesses often don’t have internal disaster recovery plans or even risk management programs in place. The problem with this is that crises happen all the time.
According to a 2020 PNAS survey, 43 % of small business respondents had temporarily closed, primarily due to Covid-19.
It’s not too often that small businesses get the attention of large corporations and organizations. However, the biggest risks to a small business are the same risks to big companies. It’s important for any company, big or small, to make sure that their backup plan and preparations are in place before disaster strikes.
Larger organizations may have more resources available, but small businesses will also benefit from using a robust business continuity plan.
Some of the benefits of a business continuity plan
- Raise risk awareness to reduce the likelihood of a crisis.
- Significantly improve recovery efforts and reduce losses.
- Minimize interruptions to operations and critical functions.
- Avoid many risks and mitigate those that cannot be avoided.
- Provide quick decision-making tools under time constraints.
Possible crises your small business might face
Although it is hard to prepare for every circumstance, you can make educated assumptions about the disasters that are likely to have an impact on your business. You might start by outlining the many potential disaster zones. These might include:
- Natural disasters, such as fires, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes.
- Workforce-related disruptions like essential personnel being ill or otherwise absent, thefts of trade secrets or business assets, or intentional sabotage by disgruntled workers.
Economic or financial problems, such as the loss of a major client or lost vendor, or disruptions in the supply chain.
Create a plan
Business continuity planning and crisis management are two important topics that every enterprise should pay attention to. Small businesses may not have the potential to hire dedicated staff to carry out these two functions—and placing the responsibility on different departments and employees can result in inefficiency and oversights. However, there are many things you can do on your own to manage these crisis situations better.
As you create this plan, you must also specify the precise roles that employees can take in order to manage a well-coordinated, compliant business continuity response. Include stakeholders from several company departments, such as marketing, IT, sales, and other core services. A variety of viewpoints will be crucial in building a thorough and feasible plan. It should also include the duration dates of the tasks.
There are some effective guides available for developing a business continuity plan and crisis management program, such as books, templates, and worksheets that include a detailed, step-by-step guide to building a strong plan for your business in little time. Such a book is Your Plan is Parachute by Jacques R. Island, a simplified guide to business continuity and crisis management that includes BCP Worksheets. The book, which includes all the worksheets, is widely available through book stores and online retailers; but the digital, full-sized version of the worksheets can only be purchased (downloaded) through this website.
Additional tip for small business owners
Consider going digital. Pandemic business shutdowns taught us that ‘technology is powerful’. Many small businesses that rely on pen-and-paper or manual systems struggled to respond quickly to necessary changes.
From data backup, reporting, payroll to customer service, digitization can help you run your business more efficiently. However, as you go digital, remember to protect your data from data breaches, viruses, malware, and other threats, and include this practice in your business continuity plan and crisis management program.
Rose Marie Quintos is a Publishing Assistant and the Marketing Director for Quest Publishing,a division of the Inquesta Corporation. (She can be reached at rquintos@inquesta.com.)
