How to get your business ready for unforeseen disaster

Floods in Narok town. Even weather events like El Niño could have serious cost implications on your organisation and clients. PHOTO | FILE 

By CANUTE WASWA

In Summary

• When an emergency occurs, the need to communicate is immediate. If business operations are disrupted, customers will want to know how they will be impacted.
• Regulators may need to be notified and local government officials will want to know what is going on in their community.

One of the most unnerving elements in business is predicting what to anticipate for your company in the future. Most businesses worry about economic problems, but what about possible weather disasters?

El Niño is a tropical weather pattern that occurs roughly once every three to seven years. The weather pattern is characterised by warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. This results in extreme weather, such as droughts and floods, in many parts of the world.

Disasters occur every day. However, many people seem to believe it is always the “other guy” who gets hit. It is only when an unplanned event occurs that directly affects one’s business that it becomes a “disaster”.

So what must you do?

Begin by conducting a business impact analysis in which all operations are defined and their priority clearly understood. Determine the timeline for each of these operations and the financial impact upon the business. During this process, it will become apparent how long the business can operate without one or more specific operations taking place.

The management should have a clear understanding of the cost impact that a specific contingency will have on the business. Each operation timeline should clearly define the costs for this operation while it is not in service.

Thus, by adding the cost impact of each operation timeline to recovery, the total cost impact of a contingency can be clearly understood.

When an emergency occurs, the need to communicate is immediate. If business operations are disrupted, customers will want to know how they will be impacted. Regulators may need to be notified and local government officials will want to know what is going on in their community.

Employees and their families will be concerned. All of these “audiences” will want information before the business has a chance to begin communicating.

Thus an important component of the preparedness programme is the crisis communications plan. A business must be able to respond promptly, accurately and confidently during an emergency in the hours and days that follow. Many different audiences must be reached with information specific to their interests and needs. The image of the business can be positively or negatively impacted by public perceptions of the handling of the incident.

But there is a catch to all the best laid plans. Sometimes plans don’t work out the way we thought they would. Sometimes we just have to be prepared for the unexpected.

The solution? Have solid foundations to ground you, know your purpose and vision to keep you focused in the right direction and be flexible. Change is the only constant, and people who capitalise on new opportunity are those who are open to new ways of thinking, new systems and technology and who have built flexible operations and budgets.

Remember, the cost for preparedness is nearly nothing and can be integrated into a company’s training programme. But contingency planning is not a manual that gets written and forgotten; it is an ongoing process for successful survival.

Mr Waswa is a management and HR specialist and managing director of Outdoors Africa. waswa@outdoorsafrica.co.ke