UK Storm: How can businesses recover?

After yesterday’s hurricane-force winds and the ongoing floods affecting a large part of the country, we’re hoping that businesses around the UK have been able to keep up and running without too many problems!

Disaster recovery is something that is vital to all businesses, with the recent problems simply irritating that fact. Luckily, with current technology and the growing culture of remote working, businesses are able to stay online if their immediate location is out of action.

If your business has been affected by the weather, we’ve put together some tips as to how to go about recovering:

 

Act quickly – Once you know there’s a problem, notify your insurers. Try to do what you can to minimise the damage, move valuable and electrical equipment out of harm’s way and be careful to avoid any further damage.

Divert your calls – If your office or working space is out of action, then be sure to do what you can to ensure your clients and customers are able to get in touch with you. If your business number is virtual, divert it to another landline you have access to, or to your mobile.

Keep staff informed – Ensuring you and your staff are safe is paramount, so if your usual place of work is inaccessible, ensure your staff are kept well informed of what your plan is for the business. If possible, allow staff to work remotely so that there’s no extended downtime to your business. It’s vital that your staff are aware of what is going on and what is expected of them, so that when you’re back to normal they are able to co-operate.

Funding is available – If your business is severely affected, you may want to look in to the UK Storm Business Fund. This was set up in January to offer short-term, interest-free finance to those worst affected to help cover costs of repairs and stock replacement so that businesses can resume normal operations as soon as possible.

Use social media – Hopefully you’re already active through social media outlets, so this is a perfect to let people know that you’ve been affected. Keeping customers informed of what is going on will minimise the risk of complaints from those who are expecting your services or products.

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