Business Disaster Planning for the Work at Home Mom

Most corporations are required by auditors and/or insurance companies to carry a business continuity plan, or a BCP. A BCP is a disaster recovery plan, or a contingency plan that describes how a business will recover in the event of a natural, human or technical disaster.

Examples of such disasters would include earthquakes and tornadoes (natural); burglary and data theft (human); computer virus and power outage (technical).

Ok, but I'm a work at home mom and my business consists of a makeshift office in the spare bedroom. What does business continuity have to do with me? Everything! If you're dedicated to your business, then you've worked hundreds if not thousands of hours collecting data on customers, creating mailing lists, business contacts and more. You've created spreadsheets for tracking income and expenses. Perhaps the backup for your website resides on your computer.

Do you have a backup plan in the event that you would lose all or part of that information?

Disasters don't happen at convenient times, quite the opposite in fact. They happen a day before your big show. They happen an hour before your network meeting. Are you prepared? How much would an unscheduled disruption cost your business?

If nothing else, creating a business continuity plan will give you the opportunity to evaluate any potential risk to your business. Once you determine your risk, you can put a plan of action into motion.

Here's a real life example. In November of 2007 I was preparing for a large women's exposition. The night before the event, I turned on my PC only to discover that it had completely lost power. After several hours trying to resuscitate it, my only option was to purchase a new PC. Because my old hard drive was not compatible with my new PC, I was unable to recover any of my data for the expo. I was awake nearly all night recreating from scratch order forms and other documentation.

Lesson learned. The next week I invested in an external USB hard drive and now I regularly back up all my data. I also sat down and created a business continuity plan for my home business.

As a BCP administrator at my former company, I understood how necessary it was in that environment. I did not think it was necessary for a small home business. But had I created a plan prior to my November disruption, I would have been prepared. I would have recovered sooner. I would not have lost valuable data.

How to Create Your Own Business Continuity Plan.

The easiest way to begin is to follow this basic outline.

Start with a risk assessment. Determine all of the threats that could potentially impact your business. A good place to start is by thinking of the things you insure your home for. (Fire, flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.) What is the probability of their occurrence? Is it something that would happen without warning or would it have a slow onset? What is the estimated duration of the outage? Hours or days? When answering these questions, think of worst case scenarios.

The following disasters (natural, human or technical) could impact my business:
1. Fire (low risk, no warning, estimated outage 3+ days)
2. Tornado (low risk, some warning, estimated outage 1-3 days)
3. Burglary (low risk, no warning, estimated outage less than 24 hours)
4. Computer Virus (medium risk, no warning, estimated outage 1-3 days)
5. Computer Hardware Failure (medium risk, no warning, estimated outage 1-3 days)
6. (etc.)

Next, perform an abbreviated version of a business impact analysis. During this step, list the critical functions you perform for your business as well as the resources needed to perform that function. State what the impact of failing to perform that function is.

The following is a list of critical functions for my business:
1. Accounting. This function covers inputting data into MS Excel spreadsheets to track income and expenses incurred. The impact of failing to perform this function is low. All receipts and invoices are scanned and placed on a backup disk that is stored off site.
2. Data Entry. This function covers inputting and maintaining lists in MS Excel including inventory with local merchants, customer and vendor information. The impact of failing to perform this function is low. All data is backed up and stored off site.

Next, document the critical equipment and software needed to conduct your business. This is not meant to be a wish list or even contain your current inventory. It is simply a list of the bare bones needed in the event you must start from scratch to rebuild your business.

The following is a list of critical equipment and software needed to conduct my business:
1. Desktop PC
2. Printer
3. Microsoft Office Software
4. (etc)

These lists may seem silly or obvious, but in the event of a disaster, you may not be thinking clearly. You will be glad to have this information documented. Having a guide will allow you to recover faster and lessen the impact and potential financial loss to your business.

The next section of your plan will include vendor information. For each vendor your company purchases with, list the following information:

Company Name
Contact Name
Address
Phone Number
Fax Number
Email Address
Website Address
Account Number (if applicable)
Materials or services purchased from this company.

Do you back up your records? (If not, you should!) If so, list the type of records that are backed up and where the backups are stored. I advise having an onsite backup as well as an offsite backup. (Friend or relative's home, safe deposit box, etc.) Records should be backed up at a minimum of once per quarter. I recommend once per month.

For onsite data storage, I recommend a USB external hard drive. If you need to get out in a hurry, grab it and go. From my experience, the data on your computer is far more important than the computer itself.

For offsite storage, I recommend a USB memory stick. Software is available to password protect and encrypt your data to prevent theft. A memory stick is more convenient when updating your backup data and more cost effective than burning a new CD each time.

If you have employees or a down/up line team, list them next. You may need to contact them in the event of a disruption to your business.

Do you have an alternate location where you could conduct your business? Perhaps team up with a fellow WAHM to offer the use of each other's home office in the event of a disruption. Otherwise ask permission from a friend or family member. List their name and contact information next. Also list the resources available at this location (PC, printer, fax machine, etc)

Keep in mind that this is merely a guideline. Your plan will vary based on your individual needs as well as the size of your business.

After your plan is finished, print a copy for your records and store another copy (offsite) on a CD or other portable data storage device. Review your plan and make changes, if necessary, once per year.

Does your homeowner's or renter's insurance cover your home office? If so, check with your agent and ask them if your rate can be reduced with a business continuity plan in place.

In conclusion, a business continuity plan takes great effort to implement, but it is one of the most valuable tools you can have and one of the greatest assurances in times of need.