Disaster Recovery Plans sound scary and complicated, but with the recent flooding that hit our area, disaster recovery planning proved to be an invaluable asset to one of our managed firms in Union County.

A disaster like 9/11 may be unlikely to occur or effect your business in the short term, but the possibility of loosing power, phone service, Internet connection or even having your building fumigated will. And for all business owners, THESE are real disasters too.

Last summer many of you were effected with the rolling power black outs. For some of you, employee's were sent home, phones went unanswered and customers wanted to know "what's up?!". For those with power generators, skeleton crews were kept working, phone systems functioned and a few key workstations were connected and operational. And the generators all cost less than $1,500.

So with the State of Emergency over from a fortnight ago, and the summer heat and rolling black-outs scheduled to arrive soon - what can we do to limit loss during a disaster, no matter how large or small?

A Good Starting Point: 1. Compile a list of contact numbers for every employee. Home numbers and cell phones. 2. Create a way of notifying all your employee's about your disaster status. (Is the office going to be closed tomorrow because the power still isn't on, is a blizzard coming, should people work from home?). 3. Identify key employees that you need on the job and identify and battery backup key computers. 4. Forward main telephone number to a mobile phone to notify callers of the current situation.

Every company should have a disaster recovery plan, no matter how large or small. Whether your building burns down ,or you loose power for a half a day, identifying the steps needed to get back in business faster are crucial.