01 Feb Lessons from 2020
There were a number of lessons to take from 2020. One that is particularly applicable to businesses is the importance of mitigating risk. Many businesses were caught out by not being able to access their premises when at least theoretically, they could have kept working. A lot were also very quickly put into a cash bind, making for a few sleepless nights for business owners.
However, there is much precedent of business interruption. At the time of writing, the nation has just had another scrape with Covid-19 in Whangarei & Auckland. But there have been many other – if regionalised – examples of other types of interruption, and we seem to have short memories. Take the Christchurch earthquakes, the 1998 Auckland power crisis or the flooding of Whanganui in 2015. And a quick peek offshore shows plenty of other examples: the bushfires in Australia, Brexit in the UK and the political unrest in the States have all taken a toll.
It can be very difficult to predict exactly what sort of interruption might come along. But here’s the thing; in principle they have much in common, and at their core, they affect the way we conduct business. So, what should you do? The first step in planning for the unexpected is to think about how a catastrophe or interruption event might affect you.
Take a moment to think, what would be the effect of:
- You and your team not being able to access your business premises? This is something common in natural disasters.
- Your IT systems ceased to operate or were taken over? It is estimated that in the US of A, there is a cyber attack on a business every 40 seconds!
- The supply lines you depend on are interrupted. This is happening to numerous industries around the world at present.
- A staff member/members that you depend on is suddenly unable to work? This could include you…
If you had known about Covid-19 and the lockdowns well in advance, would you have done anything differently? If you would have, I have good news for you: sooner or later, there will be another ‘event’ that will cause an interruption. So now is a great time to prepare your business continuity plan (if you haven’t done so already). As the old adage goes, it’s better to be overprepared and underwhelmed than it is to be underprepared and overwhelmed.
If you need help working out your business continuity plan, get in contact.
