July 22, 2007
What If Your Business Was Caught in a Steam Explosion or Some Other Disaster?
Last Wednesday as I was walking in mid-town Manhattan, I wondered why there were more people than normal in the streets.
Well as I was hitting the streets, to catch a train, a steam pipe had exploded a few blocks from where I was walking hurling steam and debris in the air.
It's now going on into the 5th day and there are projections that the 125 businesses in the affected areas could lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
What can they do now? What could they have done to be better prepared?
- Business insurance (insurance for just about everything can come in handy when something like this happens)
- Having all your business data backed up and off site
- Having contact information for all your customers (you can encourage them to buy online, keep them updated on what's happening and etc)
- If you rely on foot traffic, but your business is closed why not consider partnering with another retailer on a temporary basis (just hope they don't keep your customers)
- If you've been building an online business, in times of a disaster is definitely the time to ramp up those plans
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Comments
#1 posted by Scott Wolpow Public CTO, December 10, 2007 10:51 AM
DATE: 07/22/2007 10:51 PM
This is the type of problem you can not prevent. The pipe was almost 100 years old. However the best people plan for what coudl happen. You do need to keep offsite data and have palns for massive business interruption. You need insurance to cover this. Granted it may never happen to you, but if it does, your business can be over in a few weeks. I try and stress to all my clients to have a plan and I am willing to assist them with it.Scott WolpowPublic CTO
#2 posted by Josh McCormack, December 10, 2007 10:51 AM
DATE: 07/25/2007 9:32 AM
This is the type of situation that typically kills small businesses. It's not that they don't do business and earn money, it's the fact that there are times when you need cash to get you through a tough period.
I think it would be very difficult for someone with a retail business in the area to pay people to stay at home.
Ideally, you'd kick in a plan to move your business temporarily somewhere, and you'd need all the employee help you could get. I think ConEd should sponsor an outdoor vendor fair for all of the businesses that are in trouble b/c of this.
Josh McCormack Owner - InteractiveQA.comWeb testing and developmenthttp://www.InteractiveQA.com917.620.4902
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