New tool helps SMEs quickly recover from disaster

Threats to business can arise in all forms. From fire, earthquakes and storms to illnesses, disruptive technology and staff restructuring. Emergency planning isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity in the modern world.

Small and medium enterprises are arguably more at risk from unexpected disasters because they don’t have the enormous resources of a large multinational. And they need to recover faster than larger companies because every moment in the dark could mean serious loss to competition.

So possessing a well-built emergency plan can help expedite the process of returning a company to running at full steam. After all, US data shows that close to a quarter of SMEs don’t reopen following a major disaster.

A new online tool, created by New Zealand software company Healthpoint, aims to supply the 97% of businesses in this country classed as a SME with such desperately-needed emergency plans.

EmePoint allows businesses in any sector to develop their own customised plans for dealing with the disruptions – for less than $1 a day.

Healthpoint business development manager of emergency planning Andy Wisheart says the tool is specifically for emergency planning rather than emergency management because, otherwise, the price would balloon past a SME’s budget.

“Plus, there are a lot people already out there with those software packages but there isn’t anyone providing this kind of software.

“Emergency planning is about doing all your thinking, before the event. If you have to do that after the disaster, then the company will be behind the eight ball,” he says.

Disaster can strike at any time
Since the potential for disaster is nearly universal, businesses are best served by preparing an emergency plan in advance of potential crises. Insurance companies and authorities will often assist in the event of a natural disaster but managers are encouraged to register the organisation’s risks ahead of time.

The reason is twofold. First, it may take time for insurance or authorities to execute their own recovery plans and in some countries or cities there may not be fast plans to help businesses back to speed.

Second, in a large disaster or widespread outage, authorities and insurance companies will prioritise certain geographical areas or particular businesses over less-important businesses. Relying on third parties to organise the continuation for a business is dangerous, to say the least.

“The business continuity section of the EmePoint tool is a roadmap to recovery. It lays out all business processes and functions and prioritises them in order of which is most important to repair first.

“For instance, it will help companies understand how long they can exist without power and what they need to do before that time is up. It leads you through the process, suggesting things all the time, rather than leaving you cold. It’s like having an expert beside you offering guidance,” Mr Wisheart says.

Although almost any tested contingency plan is better than no plan at all, an emergency plan that has been tested in the real world – especially during the busiest times of the day for a particular business – is far more robust than one that exists only on a website.

Practising might appear to be wasting company time but it will help identify problems and weaknesses with the plan that aren’t obvious in its theoretical form. Practice also helps ensure everyone involved in the emergency knows exactly what they need to do and where to go.

Mr Wisheart says emergency plans must be checked periodically and updated. And the machinery of backup systems needs to be inspected every now and then.

Insurance companies may start requiring emergency plans to cover businesses in the future. It might be impossible to resist disasters but having a policy would be useful to show a company is at least attempting to mitigate any problems.

“For companies with business insurance that are creating such plans, there should be a recognition of that within the insurance market. At the moment there isn’t but it is early days.

“We hope to be talking to insurance companies to suggest that, if businesses are creating emergency plans, then they’re decreasing insurance risks,” Mr Wisheart says.