Business Continuity in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy

Overview

When disaster interrupts your place of business, what contingency plans do you have in place to continue operations? HUB International Vice President and Senior Risk Consultant Mike Dubose outlined how to develop a business continuity plan that will minimize negative impacts to your family office, drawing on the example of family offices impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
 
Key takeaways include:
 
  • Hurricane Sandy revealed that business continuity plans based on having employees work from home won’t work if employees’ homes are affected by the disaster such as flooding, electrical outage, telecommunication and Internet disruption, or other storm damage.
  • Communication among the executive team, throughout the organization, with vendors and clients is critical before, during, and after the incident.
  • Insurance carriers are getting concerned about the increasing frequency of weather-related crises as a result of global warming.  Also, they are looking for companies’ plans for business recovery.
  • There is now an ISO certified process for Business Continuity Planning, ISO 22301.  The plan should include how operations will be restored if facilities, data centers, and personnel are lost.

Specific lessons learned:

  • Need to plan for employees not being able to work from home.
  • Need alternatives for electric power such as generators during regional outage.
  • Plan for effective communication. Use Facebook pages, Twitter, and Skype and GoToMeeting for meetings.
  • Build relationships with police and fire departments prior to the need so you can get the info you need and priority attention to your needs.
  • Keep your recovery plan up to date.
  • Select an alternate site or sites. Some firms have reciprocal agreements, even among competitors. It was suggested that other family offices would be a good option for reciprocal coverage. Get these arrangments in writing.
  • Take simple precautions such as moving valuable or vulnerable items away from windows and to higher floors for protection.

FOX Event Replay

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