Contingency and Reliability Reviews

Plan and action business continuity strategy to minimize business risks. Consider technical, market, and environmental factors. Ensure the readiness with various drills.

Why

Any company may operate on many external factors that are beyond control, and a disaster could strike at any time. While you cannot control how and when a disaster may happen, you could always control your preparedness and how you react to it.

Most disasters are about surviving a difficult period. The strength of your contingency measures and how well the staff is trained to carry out those contingency measures have a significant impact on your survival. How sturdy your contingency plan is, has a substantial impact on the survival of your business.

How

Consider the following tips to establish a contingency plan:

• Create a contingency budget for a rainy day. Set aside a small portion of your recurring revenue towards a contingency fund. Do periodic reviews on this and make sure a certain minimum amount is maintained. Alternatively, you could also consider having contingency buffers in your financial calculations.
• Try to have a good knowledge of market conditions. Invest in market research and maximize your knowledge. This way, you'll be able to predict any forcible disasters ahead of your competition.
• Do a self-evaluation and identify critical assets and revenue sources in your company. Create a budget to safeguard those vital interests.
• Establish a plan with detailed instructions with clear activity owners. Once a plan is created, make sure that this is communicated to all staff, leaving no room for assumptions.
• Carry our periodic drills to make sure everyone knows their role when disaster strikes.

References

• Contingency planning for entrepreneurs