How Can I Protect my Business When a Disaster Hits?
A fire, flood or severe storm can significantly damage your business property. Disasters can also potentially stop your ability to do business.
If you are not prepared, you could face a total loss of your hard work and investment. Take the time now to see the steps you can take towards protecting yourself.
Business Insurance
You need insurance for your business and you need it to cover several potential disaster situations. Having coverage for your equipment is critical if your business is damaged from fire, storms or theft.
Most business owners are aware of this need, but may not take the time to update their insurance as the business changes.
Like a homeowner’s insurance policy, when improvements are made to your equipment, you may need to increase the total amount of your insurance. If you produce goods, you need to look closely at the inventory you stock and make sure that your current insurance is adequate.
When you purchase your business insurance, ask about flood coverage. While water damage from a failed roof would be covered, rising waters may not be. If you own the property, it becomes even more important to make sure that you have all of the coverage you require.
Business Interruption Insurance
This type of insurance covers you when you face the inability to operate your business. Even a day or two without the ability to provide your service, produce goods or make sales can be harmful. The cost is not just what you can lose in daily revenue, but also the cost of being unavailable when new clients are looking for you.
Business interruption insurance can provide you with the income you would have received if your business was not destroyed. It will also cover the continuing expenses you face, utilities, web services, rental payments and other costs that do not stop just because your facility cannot be used.
In addition, this insurance offers protection from interruptions, like major storms, that prevent you from operating your business. A major snow storm could make travel impossible or shut down the electric power for several days. Protection is also provided if your supply chain is disrupted by a disaster.
Data Backup
While having your property and business flow protected by insurance will protect you financially, nothing can replace data stored in your PC, on-site server or removable drives. You do have options and the solutions do not need to be costly.
If you just run a small business, a weekly back up of critical data can be made onto a removable drive. A better choice for any business, small or large, is using a cloud storage service. You need to find a service that meets your security requirements and access needs.
This extra protection can be well worth the cost if your on-site system is destroyed. Cloud solutions also allow you to continue your work from a remote location while your normal location is restored.
Take a good look at your business and the events that could damage your investment. When it comes to electronics & equipment, files and document recovery, make sure they are covered. Review the total amount of your insurance and compare it to your value at least once a year, preferably twice a year.
Be realistic about your needs for business interruption insurance. Make sure that it includes enough time to restore operations. It will normally take at least several days, if not a couple of weeks, to fully recover.
You can count on Professional Restoration to Respond, Recover and Restore your home, business and your life back to order. If you’ve experienced damage from a disaster, call on our experienced team to schedule a free estimate 303-922-4001. The sooner you get your property restored, the sooner you can get back to actual business.
