It is hard to believe it has been  almost 10 years since America was attacked. Ever since that fateful day of September 11, 2001 my clients have engaged me in countless discussions about "disaster recovery", "emergency preparedness", and "business continuity". Although heightened awareness of terrorist threats has kept our country safe, we have witnessed numerous other disasters, in monstrous proportions over the past decade.

Whether man made or natural, disasters are occurring more often and with regularity. Just last week Hurricane Irene hit the eastern seaboard, although New York City was spared a direct hit by the downgraded storm, catastrophic flooding continues in New York, New Jersey and Vermont. Just one week earlier an unprecedented magnitude 5.8 earthquake rocked the east coast.  Earlier this year the massive Tokyo Earthquake and Tsunami hit Japan, and last year (2010) it was the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill, and the Haiti earthquake and Tsunami.

Closer to home, in the Midwest, in the past 9 months Mother Nature produced a near record snowstorm dumping 15 inches of snow on Chicago, record Cold, record Heat, and many extremely destructive tornadoes. All of these events resulted in wide spread power outages, impacting hundreds of thousands of business. Disasters vary in size and intensity, they are not always predictable and are usually unavoidable, however; one common characteristic is the impact they have on business. These disasters have cost businesses and the world economy Billions of dollars! Can your business survive a costly outage? Are you prepared for the next emergency?

Many clients have implemented business continuity plans, many have not! Some plans are all inclusive, most are not. Does your company have a solid disaster recovery plan? When was the last time your company’s business continuity plan was reviewed? When was the last time (if ever) your company’s emergency plan was tested?

If you need to create a business continuity plan, improve or expand an existing plan I can help. Click on the Contact Us button and request a free consultation, I will send you an electronic copy of Business Continuity in Communications for Dummies, so you can get started today.