Preparing your startup for a natural disaster is a critical business activity. On-site power generators are a must for businesses in disaster prone areas. At Worldwide Power Products (http://www.wpowerproducts.com), we specialize in power generation equipment including new and used engines and generator sets. Call us at 1-713-434-2300.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1. Call us: +1-713-434-2300www.wpowerproducts.com Disaster
Preparedness: Tips For Your Startup
2. www.wpowerproducts.com For a startup owner or busy
entrepreneur, it's easy to focus on growing the business and
postpone planning for business disruptions - or even worse,
disasters - until "things are caught up." According to the 2013
Small Business Disaster Survey, 74% of small business owners don't
have a disaster recovery plan for their business, 84% don't have
natural disaster insurance and 71% do not have a back-up generator.
The same survey found that 76% of respondents had never been
affected by a natural disaster-and perhaps that's the root of the
problem.
3. www.wpowerproducts.com Unfortunately, the likelihood of your
business being impacted by a major natural weather event is
increasing: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), the number of major weather events (those
that inflict at least $1 billion in damage) has risen from an
average of two per year in the 1980s to more than 10 per year since
2010. Per a 2011 study by security firm Symantec, 65% of U.S.
businesses are located in areas affected by natural disasters. Many
data centers are also located in disaster-prone areas, as pointed
out in a2013 article by GigaOm.
4. www.wpowerproducts.com You can take these statistics with a
grain of salt, or you can take precautions. If you opt for the
latter course, you'll have great resources available to help your
company prepare for the possible impact of a hurricane, tornado or
other extreme event. Your planning doesn't have to be extensive and
many preparatory activities don't require any precious capital
outlay. The following are some tips, based on our own experience
and those of experts with whom WPP have spoken, to help you in the
process of preparing.
5. www.wpowerproducts.com In the Small Business Disaster Survey
cited earlier, 62% of small businesses indicated they could run
their business from a mobile device. That works well until the
power is out for 10 days. Installing even a small generator enables
you to charge mobile devices, keep Internet connections operating
(assuming your Internet provider is still sending a signal) and
otherwise stay afloat. You don't have to purchase a generator,
either. Many companies offer generator rentals and you can usually
deduct these as operating expenses the year you incur them. Prepare
for power outages:
6. www.wpowerproducts.com My company offers tips on selecting a
standby generator, including considerations for renting, on its
website.
7. www.wpowerproducts.com If you plan to rely on automated,
redundant server backups, consider how you will access that
information and whether it will be safe. When your data center
operator promises redundancy, is he talking about two server racks
next to each other, or does he offer true geographic redundancy?
Does that redundancy include delivering your data and services from
the redundant location, or is it intended for backup recovery only?
Reduce risk of data loss:
8. www.wpowerproducts.com Do you have a clear chain of command
for which employees would do what? Not only should specific
employees be assigned to perform required tasks, but you should
assign alternates, as well. In the face of a disaster, you cannot
anticipate that certain employees will be able to reach you. If one
employee works a distance from your office, consider covering a
cost for a standby generator at that location, as well, in case
your office ends up at the epicenter of an event. Delegate tasks to
your team:
9. www.wpowerproducts.com Have you created a basic disaster
recovery outline that indicates what activities are essential and
which are not? Have you considered whether your vendors may be at
risk? FEMA offers an excellent planning resource for free. Create a
basic recovery plan: There's even a self-directed exercise for
evaluating and testing the efficiency of your plan using scenarios
from ice storms and blackouts to hurricanes. If you prefer
templates, the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) offers
an online library. But don't go crazy. Plan for the number of
scenarios you can manage.
10. www.wpowerproducts.com The IBHS offers a "risk identifier"
tool that tells you what events your zip code might face.
11. www.wpowerproducts.com At the end of the day, creating a
simple plan with considerations for such necessities as power, key
employees, and data continuity are far more important than a
400-page document that no one remembers when disaster actually
hits. As a final note, don't forget to share the elements of your
basic plan with everyone. Tell as many people as possible where
vital documents are stored and ensure most personnel can perform
core functions (keep them as simple as possible). In the event of a
disaster, you never know who your shining star will be.
12. www.wpowerproducts.com Will Perry founded Worldwide Power
Products (WPP ) in 2008, establishing a power generation supply
footprint worldwide and leading WPP to be named one of Fortune
Magazine's 100 Most Promising Companies. In 2012, the Entrepreneurs
Organization (EO) named Perry Houston's Entrepreneur of the Year
and the Houston Business Journal named him one of Houston's 40
under 40. Courtesy of YEC
13. www.wpowerproducts.com The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC)
is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most
promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC
recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program
that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via
live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.
14. At Worldwide Power Products, we specialize in power
generation equipment including over 100 new and used engines and
generator sets for the industrial, marine, and petroleum
industries. Call us: +1-713-434-2300 www.wpowerproducts.com
CATERPILLAR