Businesses can suffer disaster with devastating effect – the owner is likely to survive but the business might not. Having arrangements in place ‘just in case’ is vital.

Drawing up a disaster recovery plan is best done over a period of time and with others’ input as it needs creative thinking.

The starting point is a list of what might happen. For premises, fire and burglary are the obvious risks and the insurance company will have worked with you to minimise these and provide cover.

A shop fronting a main road could be hit by a lorry out of control or a country pub could lose half its access if floods destroyed a nearby bridge.

With a disaster list drawn up, plan what would need to be done for the business to carry on. In the case of a fire, for example, could the records be better protected in the first place? How would the business carry on while it was being rebuilt?

Ensuring continuity should be a primary aim. Being ready to hire a virtual office to have calls and mail diverted to would be an obvious solution. These virtual offices can be found throughout the UK and will take over the communications of your business while you concentrate on the rebuild.

Having duplicate data will be the next priority. If all paper has been scanned, and the system data is backed up regularly, then it only remains to source an emergency network supplier.

Listing the risks with plans for recovery and keeping all under review will help you ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’.