3 Big Emergencies That Could Threaten Your Business—Here's How to Prepare and Protect Yourself

By Rumzz Bajwa

Even the most efficient and successful small businesses are vulnerable to emergencies. Don’t be complacent when everything is running smoothly in your business—the key to mitigating risk and surviving business emergencies is preparedness. In this article we’ve compiled three of the biggest emergencies your company could face, along with tips on how to prepare your business beforehand.

3 big emergencies to prepare your business for

Business emergency #1: Another global pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly been unprecedented. This is the first time most of us ever experienced converging health and economic crises of this magnitude, and the impact on small businesses has been especially devastating.

In the United States, more than 100,000 small businesses have had to close permanently. These closures were most likely due to a lack of resources needed to pivot to a new business model, an inability to support a remote workforce, and a lack of capital to pay for overhead costs like utilities and rent, employee payroll, or to pay off existing debts.

Unfortunately, we remain in the middle of this pandemic and many small business owners are still figuring out how to stay afloat and what their company will look like on the other side. The best thing you can do is learn from this experience and take proactive precautions to protect your company and employees from future health or economic emergencies.

How to prepare your business for a pandemic:

• Have an emergency fund. Setting aside a portion of your income for catastrophic events will go a long way in helping you prepare for the unexpected. Most companies save up for business emergencies so they have enough cushion when there is an economic drought.
• Use productivity and collaboration tools. The pandemic has forced many companies to manage their workforce remotely. Even places that rely on physical interaction, like showrooms, are now operating online. Collaboration and productivity tools that support remote operations allow business owners and their teams to work and communicate efficiently from home.

More articles from AllBusiness.com:

• How to Protect Your Small Business From Today’s Cybersecurity Threats
• 5 Steps to Protect Your Business From Supply Chain Disruptions
• Are You at Risk From a Cyber Attack? Here’s Why Your Business Needs a Cybersecurity Plan
• The Best Ways to Finance Cash Flow Emergencies
• Office Disaster Kit Supply Checklist

Business emergency #2: Natural disasters

Natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires have the potential to physically destroy businesses in the blink of an eye.

An Infrascale report revealed that more than 20% of small and medium businesses don’t have an existing data backup or disaster recovery solution. Aon's annual Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report found that the total cost of 416 natural catastrophes that occurred in the United States during 2020 resulted in economic losses of $268 billion.

How to prepare your business for a natural disaster:

• Offload your information to the cloud. Offloading critical information to the cloud will allow you and your staff to access company files when needed, and from anywhere, without running the risk of losing the data. Cloud infrastructure also enables business continuity in the event that a natural disaster makes your workplace inhabitable.
• Outline a disaster recovery plan. While natural disasters may be unavoidable, you can develop a disaster recovery plan to help you anticipate, prepare, and minimize the fallout from catastrophic events. The health and safety of employees should come first and be prioritized. Make sure your plan includes emergency exit instructions, safety protocols, and emergency contact information. There should also be plans for working remotely in the event there is physical damage to the office or transportation is temporarily halted.

Business emergency #3: Cyberattack

A 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses. There are multiple reasons cyber criminals are preying on smaller businesses in particular:

• Small businesses typically don’t have the budget or resources to implement stringent cybersecurity measures. Most are not equipped with best-in-class tools that will help them protect their assets, let alone the resources to rebound after a successful breach.
• Small businesses serve as gateways to larger organizations.
• Small businesses tend to store the payment information of high-paying customers. This makes their database a goldmine for attackers who want to steal funds or auction off the personal data of account holders.

How to prepare your business for a cyberattack:

• Raise cyber awareness within your organization. As more companies move their operations online, many small businesses are simply not aware of the risks they may be exposed to. It's important to regularly familiarize your team with what a cyberattack might look like. You could even stage a simulated cyberattack that engages employees in a real-life situation, and then provide step-by-step instructions on how to respond to this business emergency.
• Consider outsourcing your cybersecurity requirements. Most small businesses don’t have the infrastructure in place—nor the budget—to adequately protect their assets. Consider bringing in a cybersecurity professional to run threat assessments that can give you an idea of your business’s biggest vulnerabilities. This will enable you to make more informed decisions as to how to best protect your business.

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