Your Business Backup Plan!

Your Business Backup Plan!

What is your business backup plan? Do you have one? Do you think you need one? Well, I am here to remind you – we do not live in a perfect world and life sometimes happen – whether we are looking or not! Everyone should have a backup plan and not only because you own a business.

In any event, in this contributed article, you can look at possible scenarios and ensure that they do not become your reality because you have your business backup plan!

The Worst Case Scenario For Your Business And How Can You Avoid It

As a business owner, you need to be aware of the factors that could put your company at risk. The dangers of modern infrastructures and resource management can still have a dramatic impact on the growth of your company. In fact, if you don’t envisage how to deal with a worst-case scenario, you might find yourself hitting an immovable wall when things go wrong.

If you haven’t done it already, you need to plan your “what if” approach to be best prepared for all eventualities. Nobody likes a plan B, but eventually, the absence of a plan B can be the doom of your business. So what are the worst-case scenarios in the business world and how can you best handle them?

A risk is a stressful business situation

The Digital Risks You Don’t Think About

In the digital era, there can be no business without online facilities. From your data storage to your website, most of the day-to-day business activities and processes occur online, including your finance management.

Digital data have the advantages of traveling quick, being accessible from anywhere, and enabling pertinent data analysis. But digital information is also exposed to technical and criminal risks that could ruin your business.

In short, don’t be unprepared!

The modern take on tarot cards readings for business is data analysis. Data-based decision-making processes are indispensable to guarantee the growth of your business. Through a detailed and scientific interpretation of the available data, marketers and business intelligence analysts can identify recurring patterns and define the best strategic direction for the future of the company.

However, data are not only difficult to analyze, but they are also tricky to collect. Ultimately, despite the abundance of data and data gathering tools, business owners are still uncertain as to which piece of information is relevant to the future of their business.

From collecting the wrong quantitative data to ignoring qualitative information, it’s easy to take business decisions based on irrelevant or incorrect data. While entrepreneurs may not experience dramatic collapses from a misled decision, they are unlikely to record growth either.

Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to sort out your data knowledge. You need to work with an expert who can provide guidance and informative interpretation.
The great thing about ensuring that your files are all digitally available is that you don’t need to worry about misplacing paper documents anymore. But, since the beginning of the computer era, users have struggled with accessing corrupted files.

Indeed, data corruption is extremely common, especially in a work environment where a variety of workers, partners, and customers handle data through a variety of digital tools and operating systems. When a file is corrupted, users can’t read the data anymore.

Internally, the safest way to avoid accidental corruption is to ensure that your IT system is up-to-date. Viruses can affect files, but a defect in the storage hardware can equally lead to a loss of data. You also need to implement a backup policy so that a newly corrupted document can be opened via a previous backup.

Using data recovery software and solutions, experts can help to recover the full content or part of it, when the corruption is not major. However, more often than not a corrupted file is lost.

A corrupted file

There’s a common belief that data breach only touches the largest companies, as small businesses tend to assume their data hold no interest to hackers. In reality, while the papers tend to report the biggest security breaches, small businesses are a preferred target for hackers who need to practice their skills.

You might not compromise 3 billion of user accounts like Yahoo accidentally did in 2013, but as a company, you are responsible for the security of your customers’ confidential data. Companies that have fallen victims of a criminal hacking can be held liable if the customer database is stolen.

Failure to take the appropriate security steps to protect confidential data can lead to legal actions and loss of customer trust. You need to work with an IT professional to assess the risk in your company and design proactive strategies to protect your data. Naturally, having your business backup plan is a good step, but you don’t want to have to use it, especially in these instances.

The Site Risks You Didn’t Know You Had

A physical site for your company is the guarantee of avoiding some of the data-related issues of digital businesses. However, a business site comes with risks of its own, that can redefine for business owners the concept of responsibility and site safety.

If you provide work equipment to your employees, whether it’s on a lease, a rental or bought by the company, you need to ensure that your staff knows exactly how to work with the new kit. For instance, construction sites that need to work with a heavy lift crane for hire can be held responsible for accidental injuries caused by lack of training.

Similarly, if the accident is the result of using a type of equipment that isn’t suitable for the work – but that the company owner chose to use instead of acquiring the necessary machinery – the liability lies again within the company and no doubt, your business backup plan will come in handy!

According to the Time Magazine’s 2016 list of the most dangerous jobs in America, construction workers and supervisors rank just above the 10th ranking position. Indeed, when an accident occurs on a construction site, the injuries can be life-changing, if not fatal.

Consequently, it’s easy to understand why a construction business has a duty to ensure the security of their staff. It’s a sector where there is no excuse for negligence and inattention to the safety rules.

Safety on a construction site

For businesses that need to perform work in a public area, such as working on road renovations, for instance, it’s essential to take into account the potential risk for the public.

That’s precisely why you need public liability insurance, as your business can incur serious legal costs in the case a member of the public has been injured by your team. Who needs public liability cover?

Ultimately every business that has to face interactions at an active or passive level with the public, from a courier company that drives a van across the region to a creative marketing company that wants to hang a statement banner at a road crossing.

More and more insurers are refusing to cover the costs of a natural disaster unless the business has taken a specific insurance coverage. If you’ve decided not to protect your premises against the risks of flooding, you will have to pay for the damages and the renovation costs from your own pocket.

In fact, according to a recent survey, up to a quarter of all companies are unable to resume operation after a major disaster, including fire, flooding, and tornadoes. Creating an emergency response isn’t enough to get your company back on track when the premises and their contents have suffered significant damages. You need to consider the appropriate coverage for your business too.

The HR Issues That Can Happen When You’re Not Careful

Managing your team is a difficult skill in a company. While effective people management can help a business thrive, ineffective management of human resources can be an obstacle to growth and success.

More often than not when employers feel they are dealing with a problem employee, they can be quick to fire. However, according to an employment lawyer, this should be a last resort.

Indeed, it can become traumatic for your team and reflect badly on your company. Additionally, there is an undeniable cost that is associated with firing an employee, and it’s the expenses related to the recruitment and training of someone new.

Aside from your employee’s feelings, you are also putting the entire production and company’s performance at risk until an appropriate and equally skilled replacement can be found. In short, it’s best to give someone a second chance or to discuss issues with them first.

Discrimination is one of the most dreaded words in the HR department.

When an employee complains about discrimination, the repercussions on the company can be devastating, especially if the law is on the side of the employee. From having to pay high compensations to losing your credibility as an employer, discrimination can be the doom of your company.

Admittedly, there are still occasional cases when an employee is being unreasonably sensitive or trying to abuse the company. However, apart from rare cases of hypersensitivity, employees often have a good reason to sue a business for discrimination. For instance, preferring a young candidate over an older applicant can be perceived as age discrimination.

Implementing a dress code that doesn’t allow Islamic or Sikh clothing is a form of religious discrimination that can put your business at risk of negative publicity and financial consequences, and for sure, it will be times like these that you will find that you might need your business backup plan.

Finally, according to the Society of Human Resource Management Association, 79% of employees quit their job because they don’t feel appreciated. A manager who lacks training or human intelligence when engaging with their team can be the catalyst for a mass departure movement within the company.

Unfortunately, in small businesses, managers are often employees who have been promoted to a position of power without receiving the necessary training. In other words, it’s essential for the HR department to conduct an honest departure interview to identify issues before it’s too late.

The bottom line is that risks are everywhere in the business world. It’s your ability to recognize worrying signs and take preventive actions for the protection of your data, of the public and of your team that can stop a mistake from turning into a bankruptcy scenario.

My Final Thoughts On Your Business Backup Plan!

Everyone needs a plan – an individual and a business entity. You need a business plan to dictate the direction you choose for your business and you need your business backup plan just in case something goes awry.

I hope you have one and that you never have to use it, and if you do, you are able to ‘bridge the gap’!

All the best with your business backup plan!

Images courtesy of Pixabay, Wikimedia, and Pexels.

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