THE GAME-CHANGERS What else could torpedo your company, short of an economic calamity that entirely dries up the remodeling market?
“There are going to be some identifiable disasters that can be planned for,” DuRoff says. “These circumstances need to be identified, and proactive systems and procedures put in place to minimize or eliminate the impact of the inevitable.”
Heritage Builders deliberately set out to identify such threats a few years ago. “We brainstormed the game-changers,” Daughenbaugh says, “and the biggest, without question, was if our building blew down” or something similarly catastrophic wiped out years of data files, hard drives, and/or physical access to either. “So we back up our computers like nobody does,” he says, including backups to an online source and to portable devices that are taken off-site.
Redundant backups kept in a secure environment are essential, says Dan Canfield, Heritage Builders’ tech consultant and owner of KISS Networks in Salt Lake City. If you can only afford to lose a day’s worth of data, he says, you should back up daily. Then, using writeable CDs, DVDs, or backup devices, also do a less-frequent backup — perhaps weekly — that you store off-site, and an additional monthly backup as well. Keep backups separate, and don’t override old copies, to make it easier to rebuild files that are damaged or lost.
You probably know to keep your virus protection software current, but what about passwords? David Alpert, a consultant with Continuum Marketing Group, says these areas merit particular vigilance:
Another potential game-changer, DuRoff says, is the loss of one or more key employees who are “so valuable or irreplaceable that the company would be in a world of hurt if they left.”
Emotionally, and to some extent operationally, you can never fully prepare for such an event. But DuRoff says that a “panic manual” could help. First, identify employees whose responsibilities are central to the company. Second, develop a list of their top 10 responsibilities. Third, file those items in a 10-tab binder for each employee, fleshed out with relevant details: account numbers, phone numbers, important dates, etc.
If possible, get your key employees to create the manuals for themselves. Farlow Group, in Wilmington, N.C., started this process with its long-time office manager, with others to follow. “We’re attempting to document everything we all do,” says Jim Farlow, executive director. “It’s not perfect, but it’s a starting point.”