Disaster - Are You Like Noah, Or an Ostrich?

As I sit here here this morning with hot coffee in hand, gazing out the window at my wind- and flood-stricken yard resulting from the "NorEaster of 2009," I cannot help but to reflect on the idea of disaster preparedness. Having personally experienced many such storms, including two major hurricanes, I am still amazed at how life can become so completely discombobulated in such a short order. I am reminded yet once again how we take our everyday routines and conveniences for granted. The simple act of getting out of my neighborhood, for instance, is normally very simple, and very quick. But with today's storm, all bridges in and out of my hamlet of Great Bridge are closed, and so egress is extremely arduous. Not only that, the question looms: what happens when we lose power? How long will it be out? How disruptive will that be?

After 40 years of life, I have come to a very simple conclusion: these things happen. Accidents happen. Natural disasters happen. Major life disruptions happen. And all of them are beyond our control, or we would prevent them, right? And typically we say "it won't happen to me!" I've said that myself many times in the past, just to be reminded yet again this past Thursday when I set my own kitchen on fire. It was a total accident, but it happened. I never would have expected to start a fire in my kitchen, but thank God I was sensible enough to listen to the experts when they said to keep fire extinguishers in your house - just in case. Because of that, I was able to greatly limit our damage, and prevent the house from burning down.

I think also about Noah of the Bible who God told to build an ark because the flood was coming. Noah could have easily said "Why should I do that? It has never rained before, so why in the world would I waste my time and resources building an ark?" But he did. He prepared. He listened to God - saved his family - and the rest is history.

So I guess the question is this: we know that disasters affect each and everyone of our lives - both personally and professionally - but have we adequately prepared? What if you or your team could not get into the office for an extended period of time? Could they still access your critical business systems and be productive? If you had a fire or flood in your building, would mission-critical business data be lost forever? Is it securely and remotely backed up? Or do you still have the preponderance of your documents and files in paper or non-digital format? If it were digitized, not only could you back it up redundantly across multiple states, but your team could access the data remotely. Or they could telecommute from "higher ground" for an extended period if necessary, with minimal business interruptions, and in some cases, in safer environments.

Many companies today, particularly smaller companies, are reluctant to make the necessary investment required to "go digital" and protect their business assets. The perceived costs involved, and the attitude that "It won't happen to us" can stymie common sense and good judgment. But the truth is that the loss of time, money and opportunity to rebuild a damaged infrastructure is substantially greater than the managed cost of adequate preparation. Remember, things DO happen. Just ask the folks who went through hurricane Katrina. Will you be ready?

Unity Business Systems delivers Agile ECM (Enterprise Content Management) solutions without disrupting the way you work. Rapid deployment. Streamlined development. Central control over standards, security and auditing, while maintaining flexibility to service individual business units. We make IT easy! for your enterprise to compete and succeed in today's rapidly changing business environment.